5 ms·

How hard is it for an employee to request a meeting with the board, generally?

onphonenow 5y ago
Why? You take a lot of personal risk when you do end runs to a board for this type of thing. The normal solution is to go out and get a new job -> I've done that with crazy bosses. Very simple. You can even leave on OK terms.
deleted 5y ago
[deleted]
nrmitchi 5y ago
You'd really have to have a lot to lose (in comparison to just taking a new job) under the current company in order to take that chance (think a large value of options, etc). You'd have better luck if you already had some sort of existing relationship with the board, but that doesn't really apply if you're asking this question.
ipnon 5y ago
You do not want to stand out at these companies. From experience, you will get fired. Morale is at rock bottom, no one is working hard, the only benefit is that expectations are near the limit of nothing so long as you do even the most miniscule actions of value. Working at Hell Corporation with CEO Satan is incredibly depressing. The reason people don't leave is that interviewers can smell the desperation and downtroddenness. This is coupled with not having written anything except muddy meatballs on top of spaghetti code for your tenure. Evil CEOs are a feature in these companies. They crush the souls of their workers to prevent them from being able to leave. It usually works long enough for the founders to sell their stakes to a witless VC before the whole operation explodes in a ball of fire.
- paxys 5y ago
  Getting fired (with a severance package/unemployment benefits) may be preferable to voluntarily quitting out of frustration and getting nothing.
- bagels 5y ago
  If you are on your way out already, the calculus changes a little.
axg11 5y ago
Very difficult, and frankly pointless. I have seen employees take problems to the board in the past _if_ they already have a working relationship with board members. Otherwise, you are signalling yourself as an employee that cannot successfully work with the company's management. At best, the board will take actions based on your advice, but you will still compromise your own position within the company. The calculus is simple: in many startups the CEO owns 10-60% of the company. A very senior early employee who negotiated well on options/equity? Optimally <0.5%.
flybrand 5y ago
The board will say “yes” in their response cc’ing the leadership.
dreamcompiler 5y ago
I've been in this situation and fortunately I came to my senses. The board hired a sociopathic CEO who was running the company into the ground and driving away all the good engineers. I came up with a concrete and inexpensive plan for turning the company around which I thought had about a 50/50 chance of making the company so successful it would own its market, which was brand new at the time. It was largely simple stuff like not making the same dumb mistakes over and over. I thought about taking the plan to the board, and then I realized: A. The board members talk to the CEO every day, but I've never even met most of them. Who do I think they're going to listen to? B. Everybody on the board is rich. If those guys lose $50 million they shrug their shoulders, sail to Bermuda for a month of R&R, and get right back on the investing horse. C. I owe the board members nothing. NOTHING. I was hired as a staff engineer, not as a turnaround expert for a failing company. D. The most likely outcome of me talking to the board is me getting fired and nothing else changing. In fact that's the only realistic possible outcome. So I quit. And immediately got a better job. The company continued declining and eventually fired the sociopath CEO but by that time a better company had come along that now owns that market. You can't fix stupid. All you can do is leave.

Why? You take a lot of personal risk when you do end runs to a board for this type of thing. The normal solution is to go out and get a new job -> I've done that with crazy bosses. Very simple. You can even leave on OK terms.

deleted 5y ago

[deleted]

nrmitchi 5y ago

You'd really have to have a lot to lose (in comparison to just taking a new job) under the current company in order to take that chance (think a large value of options, etc). You'd have better luck if you already had some sort of existing relationship with the board, but that doesn't really apply if you're asking this question.

ipnon 5y ago

You do not want to stand out at these companies. From experience, you will get fired. Morale is at rock bottom, no one is working hard, the only benefit is that expectations are near the limit of nothing so long as you do even the most miniscule actions of value. Working at Hell Corporation with CEO Satan is incredibly depressing. The reason people don't leave is that interviewers can smell the desperation and downtroddenness. This is coupled with not having written anything except muddy meatballs on top of spaghetti code for your tenure. Evil CEOs are a feature in these companies. They crush the souls of their workers to prevent them from being able to leave. It usually works long enough for the founders to sell their stakes to a witless VC before the whole operation explodes in a ball of fire.

paxys 5y ago
Getting fired (with a severance package/unemployment benefits) may be preferable to voluntarily quitting out of frustration and getting nothing.
bagels 5y ago
If you are on your way out already, the calculus changes a little.

axg11 5y ago

Very difficult, and frankly pointless. I have seen employees take problems to the board in the past _if_ they already have a working relationship with board members. Otherwise, you are signalling yourself as an employee that cannot successfully work with the company's management. At best, the board will take actions based on your advice, but you will still compromise your own position within the company. The calculus is simple: in many startups the CEO owns 10-60% of the company. A very senior early employee who negotiated well on options/equity? Optimally <0.5%.

flybrand 5y ago

The board will say “yes” in their response cc’ing the leadership.

dreamcompiler 5y ago

I've been in this situation and fortunately I came to my senses. The board hired a sociopathic CEO who was running the company into the ground and driving away all the good engineers. I came up with a concrete and inexpensive plan for turning the company around which I thought had about a 50/50 chance of making the company so successful it would own its market, which was brand new at the time. It was largely simple stuff like not making the same dumb mistakes over and over. I thought about taking the plan to the board, and then I realized: A. The board members talk to the CEO every day, but I've never even met most of them. Who do I think they're going to listen to? B. Everybody on the board is rich. If those guys lose $50 million they shrug their shoulders, sail to Bermuda for a month of R&R, and get right back on the investing horse. C. I owe the board members nothing. NOTHING. I was hired as a staff engineer, not as a turnaround expert for a failing company. D. The most likely outcome of me talking to the board is me getting fired and nothing else changing. In fact that's the only realistic possible outcome. So I quit. And immediately got a better job. The company continued declining and eventually fired the sociopath CEO but by that time a better company had come along that now owns that market. You can't fix stupid. All you can do is leave.