Yes, employees could be a subset of shareholders, but again I specifically believe this letter was sent to non-employee shareholders. Here are quotes illustrat

Yes, employees could be a subset of shareholders, but again I specifically believe this letter was sent to non-employee shareholders. Here are quotes illustrating why: >> Dear Autodesk Shareholder, >> This is the time to neglect your job. >> This is the time to take that leave of absence from the foundry and work for Autodesk. >> If you have skills as a programmer, use them...machines... will be provided. >> If you have management skills, offer to take over AutoCAD project management tasks... >> If your skills are in general management, finish our business plan... >> Move to Mill Valley for a month (all expenses paid). Spend a week in the center of the cyclone at 150 Shoreline. >> The full time people in this company are working at or beyond capacity. We need help, your help, or we will fail. This is not a letter to the employees like the submission title misrepresents, and other posters seem to believe... This is clearly something way cooler. This is something that's been talked about in reference to choosing your investors wisely, but this is the first application of those intangibles that I ever remember reading about--a letter calling on your (non-employee) shareholders to use their skills and connections to fill in the missing pieces and grow the company, with the other alternative being insolvency. Assuming autodesk favored investors with technological understanding and expertise, this demonstrates that having investors who can help you in ways other than with money is very important.