4 ms·

Well, we should all be very very worried when companies with 1m profit per employee start laying people off. Excesses of SV aren’t really relevant from my point

Well, we should all be very very worried when companies with 1m profit per employee start laying people off. Excesses of SV aren’t really relevant from my point of view

MikeTheRocker 4y ago
Agreed. Tech workers at large companies often earn income commensurate with the economic value they produce. When each employee nets the company 7 figures on average, it's hard to make a case that they shouldn't earn some meaningful fraction of that IMO.
- dasil003 4y ago
  “Should” doesn’t really enter into it though. And in any case it’s impossible to attribute impact in that way since the money tends to come from a few huge engines that are not sensitive to individual hires. At the end of the day, tech salaries are a market like any other—driven by what competitors are willing to pay, not by what is “fair”
- lmeyerov 4y ago
  The economic value isn't measured in revenue but the stock price, which you get paid your bigger bucks in. Their stock dropped 86% over the last year, so market value per engineer is not the same. Compensation was made with that in mind. I doubt existing salary compensation will go down -- the best will leave, or even ask for stock refreshers in stock side to stay -- so now it is dog eat dog. You are right wrt revenue focus though. Recent Series A/B unicorns will have 100+ employees, but at 20-100X valuation multiple on not that much revenue, so valuation coming down to levels of 5 years ago (which were still frothy!) hurts more bc little revenue to fall back on should a down/bridge round not work out. We are still a year out from many of these being forced, but many smart people at these shops are already (secretly) on the job market.
- nytesky 4y ago
  I thought a company like Snap didn’t make a profit, so I dont think the employees are netting 7 figures for the company? That probably only applies to Google, FB, Apple, Amazon?
  - AzzieElbab 4y ago
    Yes, I meant the big guys and I am worried about the trend
- zbuf 4y ago
  May be the mean average, but in these large companies a high proportion of employees seem to be working on moonshots or speculative projects. So some care should be taken talking about the economic value produced by each individual -- reading HN gives the impression that many high salaried employees don't consider that theirs may actually be zero.

Well, we should all be very very worried when companies with 1m profit per employee start laying people off. Excesses of SV aren’t really relevant from my point of view

MikeTheRocker 4y ago

Agreed. Tech workers at large companies often earn income commensurate with the economic value they produce. When each employee nets the company 7 figures on average, it's hard to make a case that they shouldn't earn some meaningful fraction of that IMO.

dasil003 4y ago
“Should” doesn’t really enter into it though. And in any case it’s impossible to attribute impact in that way since the money tends to come from a few huge engines that are not sensitive to individual hires. At the end of the day, tech salaries are a market like any other—driven by what competitors are willing to pay, not by what is “fair”
lmeyerov 4y ago
The economic value isn't measured in revenue but the stock price, which you get paid your bigger bucks in. Their stock dropped 86% over the last year, so market value per engineer is not the same. Compensation was made with that in mind. I doubt existing salary compensation will go down -- the best will leave, or even ask for stock refreshers in stock side to stay -- so now it is dog eat dog. You are right wrt revenue focus though. Recent Series A/B unicorns will have 100+ employees, but at 20-100X valuation multiple on not that much revenue, so valuation coming down to levels of 5 years ago (which were still frothy!) hurts more bc little revenue to fall back on should a down/bridge round not work out. We are still a year out from many of these being forced, but many smart people at these shops are already (secretly) on the job market.
nytesky 4y ago
I thought a company like Snap didn’t make a profit, so I dont think the employees are netting 7 figures for the company? That probably only applies to Google, FB, Apple, Amazon?
- AzzieElbab 4y ago
  Yes, I meant the big guys and I am worried about the trend
zbuf 4y ago
May be the mean average, but in these large companies a high proportion of employees seem to be working on moonshots or speculative projects. So some care should be taken talking about the economic value produced by each individual -- reading HN gives the impression that many high salaried employees don't consider that theirs may actually be zero.