4 ms·

"Your a low number employee and your company goes public, woohoo you are rich, but people who work with you and came later and are doing the same job as you are

"Your a low number employee and your company goes public, woohoo you are rich, but people who work with you and came later and are doing the same job as you are not." You're leaving out risk and experience: * Employee #3 takes more risk than employee #30 who took more risk than employee #300. * More importantly, even if they have the same roles when employee #30 joined, odds are that employee #3 was involved in quite a few other things in quite a few other roles and has had a fundamentally different impact on the team and organization as a whole. Disclosure: I'm with a startup popular around here.. but my number is well into the double digits. ;)

ChuckMcM 15y ago
"You're leaving out risk and experience:" Don't confuse the 'why' some folks are more handsomely rewarded at a liquidity event, with 'what it does to them.' Here is the situation, person A in a four person cube is a multi-millioniare on paper, person B, C, and D are still unable to come up with a down payment on a house. Person B, "Hey A, what are you doing this weekend?" Person A, "We're flying up to Oregon to go helicopter skiing on Mt Hood, its wicked cool, I got a new set of bump skis and that Rossingol gortex super suit, can't wait to try it out. How about you?" Person B, "Uh, a BBQ on the balcony of C's apartment. I guess you're busy." Now person A might be a douchbag here but they might simply be honestly answering the question. And in the answering, its awkward because its hard to imagine them not going helicopter skiing so that could could come over and have tri-tip at your place and play Wii or watch the game. But at work they all work on the same part of the system, they all have similar roles and similar levels of responsibility. Person A, if they have any empathy at all, will quickly recognize that it makes non-rich people uncomfortable to talk about stuff like this, and they stop (and then appear 'withdrawn' to people B, C, and D.) and they start hanging out with the other low number folks who are doing their own crazy things and so feel neither threatened nor jealous nor uncomfortable with discussions that involve spending 15 - 20 thousand dollars for a weekend outing. Sometimes people B, C, and D will respond affirmatively and supportively, sometimes they will attempt to make person A feel like a douchebag (even if they aren't) to salve some inner wound. How folks respond to that varies by person, I don't know if you can know apriori how you personally will respond until you are in that position.
- caseysoftware 15y ago
  I completely agree that money changes the vast majority of people.. especially if it's a large amount very quickly. I still think your "similar roles and similar levels of responsibility" point is incomplete. Employee #3 will always have a different relationship with the company - and its leadership - than employee #30. They've been through quite a bit together that #30 was not there for and there will be a different level of trust, authority, etc. It's not a criticism, just a situation. It's the difference of going to school with the same kid since kindergarten and the new kid getting there in high school. There's quite a bit of history.. good or bad.

ChuckMcM 15y ago

"You're leaving out risk and experience:" Don't confuse the 'why' some folks are more handsomely rewarded at a liquidity event, with 'what it does to them.' Here is the situation, person A in a four person cube is a multi-millioniare on paper, person B, C, and D are still unable to come up with a down payment on a house. Person B, "Hey A, what are you doing this weekend?" Person A, "We're flying up to Oregon to go helicopter skiing on Mt Hood, its wicked cool, I got a new set of bump skis and that Rossingol gortex super suit, can't wait to try it out. How about you?" Person B, "Uh, a BBQ on the balcony of C's apartment. I guess you're busy." Now person A might be a douchbag here but they might simply be honestly answering the question. And in the answering, its awkward because its hard to imagine them not going helicopter skiing so that could could come over and have tri-tip at your place and play Wii or watch the game. But at work they all work on the same part of the system, they all have similar roles and similar levels of responsibility. Person A, if they have any empathy at all, will quickly recognize that it makes non-rich people uncomfortable to talk about stuff like this, and they stop (and then appear 'withdrawn' to people B, C, and D.) and they start hanging out with the other low number folks who are doing their own crazy things and so feel neither threatened nor jealous nor uncomfortable with discussions that involve spending 15 - 20 thousand dollars for a weekend outing. Sometimes people B, C, and D will respond affirmatively and supportively, sometimes they will attempt to make person A feel like a douchebag (even if they aren't) to salve some inner wound. How folks respond to that varies by person, I don't know if you can know apriori how you personally will respond until you are in that position.

caseysoftware 15y ago
I completely agree that money changes the vast majority of people.. especially if it's a large amount very quickly. I still think your "similar roles and similar levels of responsibility" point is incomplete. Employee #3 will always have a different relationship with the company - and its leadership - than employee #30. They've been through quite a bit together that #30 was not there for and there will be a different level of trust, authority, etc. It's not a criticism, just a situation. It's the difference of going to school with the same kid since kindergarten and the new kid getting there in high school. There's quite a bit of history.. good or bad.