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when you get thrown off of the board you still have your shares. so the trade is still successful by my rubric. I consider all things to be trades, whether I i

when you get thrown off of the board you still have your shares. so the trade is still successful by my rubric. I consider all things to be trades, whether I invested in a publicly traded equity, or whether I created a bunch of $0.00 par value shares to sell to a bunch of other people. the rule is the same: don't get married to a company. a board removing you doesn't need any fanfare. you still have the shares.

bgroat 5y ago
Headline - I agree with you. Just retire, or do something else. You own the shares. Fine Print: There's still some screwy stuff they can do diluting your shares in particular.
- icedchai 5y ago
  "Just retire"... that may be difficult without liquidity, regardless of value of the shares.
- adventured 5y ago
  > There's still some screwy stuff they can do diluting your shares in particular. And they also may run the company you founded into the ground by selecting a mediocre replacement (who will surround theirself with mediocre managers), making your shares potentially worthless in the end.
- elliekelly 5y ago
  And often it’s not about a financial bruise so much as the ego/emotional bruise. Losing control is not a comfortable feeling for the CEO-type.
  - vmception 5y ago
    which is why my point carries weight: don't get married to the company/project/IP anything go in with a precision strike and leave. don't stay for 20 years and act surprised when the Taliban takes over the board again in 10 days. leave that to the disillusioned employees and sycophants. yourself and the external contractors extracted generational wealth for decades. and if you didn't nobody to blame but yourself.
- withinboredom 5y ago
  Can you have a single share that is always * X of the summed voting rights of other shares, so no matter how many shares they print, you just get more votes?
deleted 5y ago
[deleted]
ChuckMcM 5y ago
See also "cram-down round" :-)
- robocat 5y ago
  Good definition for it and similar terms: https://web.stanford.edu/class/e145/2007_fall/materials/CurtisMo.pdf https://web.stanford.edu/class/e145/2007_fall/materials/Curt...
onion2k 5y ago
a board removing you doesn't need any fanfare. you still have the shares. You do, but there isn't always a secondary market to sell them on, and if you leave under a really bad cloud the board will attempt to take the shares back, or issue a bunch more for themselves thus diluting your shares in to oblivion (see Eduardo Savauvin vs Facebook for details.) I don't think you should make light of leaving "with your shares" as if that's the end of the story. It might not be.
- School-Cotton 5y ago
  Eduardo Saverin sued Facebook for doing that and is now worth $20 billion.
  - onion2k 5y ago
    That's brilliant, of course, but he owned 30% before being kicked out which would be a little over $300bn now.
PeterCorless 5y ago
This is a very self-centered "I got mine" view. Think more broadly: What did you do to the valuation and perception of your company? What have you done to the value of everyone's shares, including your own? If you keep a role at the company, how will it be working with your team now that they see your position reduced? If you are walked out of the company without ceremony, what balls were in the air that aren't going to be caught? Who did you just leave in the lurch? So will those shares be worth anything if you were phoning it in rather than focusing on your CEO performance, or successfully trying to navigate the CEO-to-other-role transition? Will your competition smell blood in the water and try to cast FUD in the face of your current customers and all future prospects? What will your reputation be going forward? ("He was a difficult person to work with. We had to fire him.") So sure, you may have your short-term gains in your stocks. But what will it do to your career? And the careers of everyone who had followed you to that point? This article was very well-meaning. I just have a feeling that all-too-many short-term thinking people are going to follow your advice and say, "Well, to hell with it. At least I got mine."
- notreallyserio 5y ago
  If I'm fired I'm not the one leaving anyone in the lurch. I don't understand.
icedchai 5y ago
Sure, but it might not matter. Your company can be in such a bad state that the next round, if it happens, will massively dilute everyone, including you. You wind up owning less than 10% of a sinking ship. I've seen it happen. (And if you don't take that money, your company goes to zero.)
boringg 5y ago
You still have shares but they may dilute you to nothing.

bgroat 5y ago

Headline - I agree with you. Just retire, or do something else. You own the shares. Fine Print: There's still some screwy stuff they can do diluting your shares in particular.

icedchai 5y ago
"Just retire"... that may be difficult without liquidity, regardless of value of the shares.
adventured 5y ago
> There's still some screwy stuff they can do diluting your shares in particular. And they also may run the company you founded into the ground by selecting a mediocre replacement (who will surround theirself with mediocre managers), making your shares potentially worthless in the end.
elliekelly 5y ago
And often it’s not about a financial bruise so much as the ego/emotional bruise. Losing control is not a comfortable feeling for the CEO-type.
- vmception 5y ago
  which is why my point carries weight: don't get married to the company/project/IP anything go in with a precision strike and leave. don't stay for 20 years and act surprised when the Taliban takes over the board again in 10 days. leave that to the disillusioned employees and sycophants. yourself and the external contractors extracted generational wealth for decades. and if you didn't nobody to blame but yourself.
withinboredom 5y ago
Can you have a single share that is always * X of the summed voting rights of other shares, so no matter how many shares they print, you just get more votes?

deleted 5y ago

[deleted]

ChuckMcM 5y ago

See also "cram-down round" :-)

robocat 5y ago
Good definition for it and similar terms: https://web.stanford.edu/class/e145/2007_fall/materials/CurtisMo.pdf https://web.stanford.edu/class/e145/2007_fall/materials/Curt...

onion2k 5y ago

a board removing you doesn't need any fanfare. you still have the shares. You do, but there isn't always a secondary market to sell them on, and if you leave under a really bad cloud the board will attempt to take the shares back, or issue a bunch more for themselves thus diluting your shares in to oblivion (see Eduardo Savauvin vs Facebook for details.) I don't think you should make light of leaving "with your shares" as if that's the end of the story. It might not be.

School-Cotton 5y ago
Eduardo Saverin sued Facebook for doing that and is now worth $20 billion.
- onion2k 5y ago
  That's brilliant, of course, but he owned 30% before being kicked out which would be a little over $300bn now.

PeterCorless 5y ago

This is a very self-centered "I got mine" view. Think more broadly: What did you do to the valuation and perception of your company? What have you done to the value of everyone's shares, including your own? If you keep a role at the company, how will it be working with your team now that they see your position reduced? If you are walked out of the company without ceremony, what balls were in the air that aren't going to be caught? Who did you just leave in the lurch? So will those shares be worth anything if you were phoning it in rather than focusing on your CEO performance, or successfully trying to navigate the CEO-to-other-role transition? Will your competition smell blood in the water and try to cast FUD in the face of your current customers and all future prospects? What will your reputation be going forward? ("He was a difficult person to work with. We had to fire him.") So sure, you may have your short-term gains in your stocks. But what will it do to your career? And the careers of everyone who had followed you to that point? This article was very well-meaning. I just have a feeling that all-too-many short-term thinking people are going to follow your advice and say, "Well, to hell with it. At least I got mine."

notreallyserio 5y ago
If I'm fired I'm not the one leaving anyone in the lurch. I don't understand.

icedchai 5y ago

Sure, but it might not matter. Your company can be in such a bad state that the next round, if it happens, will massively dilute everyone, including you. You wind up owning less than 10% of a sinking ship. I've seen it happen. (And if you don't take that money, your company goes to zero.)

boringg 5y ago

You still have shares but they may dilute you to nothing.