6 ms·

> Every VC backed company sucks even worse, they work you to death, promise you “equity” that will statistically be worthless and they pay less. That has been

> Every VC backed company sucks even worse, they work you to death, promise you “equity” that will statistically be worthless and they pay less. That has been exactly the opposite of my experience with VC-backed companies. Great culture and support. Companies that stand by their employees and their words when it counts. I worked at a company which ran out of runway once. Not the first, not the last time I was in this situation. But before it actually did, CEO decided to close doors sooner so he could give everybody effectively a three-month severance. We were all contractors, not employees. He didn't have to do it at all, and I think that if he wished to, he would have found a dozen ways to safely pocket this VC money himself. But he made a choice to do a solid for his employees instead. This was just the most striking example, but overall it is pretty typical of my experience with VC-backed startups. I'm a cynical, pessimistic person from Russia and Israel, so every time I encounter another super-positive American, my first thought is that they're just phony. But in this particular industry, it just so happens that a lot of them are actually genuinely like that.

scarface_74 1y ago
Look no further than YC. https://medium.com/@kazeemibrahim18/the-post-ipo-performance-of-y-combinator-companies-a-mixed-bag-of-success-and-struggle-58e9a4006f01 https://medium.com/@kazeemibrahim18/the-post-ipo-performance... YC doesn’t care about the long term value of the companies it invest in. All VC companies want to extract the maximum value out of the company before they get sold to the bigger fool - either acquisitions or an IPO.
- golergka 1y ago
  That's not the thesis I'm arguing with. You were talking about relationship with employees. Now you're talking about relationship with later stage investors. I am not a later stage investor, I have no knowledge about and no horse in this race.
  - scarface_74 1y ago
    If you took equity in the company in lieu of your market value, you are an investor. Since you probably would also have a lock up period, you would suffer losses. Your employer is beholden to its investors.
    - deleted 1y ago
      [deleted]
BeetleB 1y ago
Indeed. Years ago, someone I know worked at a VC backed HW startup. It failed. The founder personally met with several CEOs of other companies saying "Hey, we're going to fail. I've got great employees. Do you want to hire them en masse?" He wasn't selling his company. Just finding a home for the employees. Who ended up hiring them? Jensen Huang. This was at a time Nvidia's survival was at stake. He personally traveled to the site (not Bay Area), gave a presentation to the engineers, and tried to convince them to join. Treated them well - it wasn't a case of "Hey, you've got no options other than me" but "Please consider joining me."

scarface_74 1y ago

Look no further than YC. https://medium.com/@kazeemibrahim18/the-post-ipo-performance-of-y-combinator-companies-a-mixed-bag-of-success-and-struggle-58e9a4006f01 https://medium.com/@kazeemibrahim18/the-post-ipo-performance... YC doesn’t care about the long term value of the companies it invest in. All VC companies want to extract the maximum value out of the company before they get sold to the bigger fool - either acquisitions or an IPO.

golergka 1y ago
That's not the thesis I'm arguing with. You were talking about relationship with employees. Now you're talking about relationship with later stage investors. I am not a later stage investor, I have no knowledge about and no horse in this race.
- scarface_74 1y ago
  If you took equity in the company in lieu of your market value, you are an investor. Since you probably would also have a lock up period, you would suffer losses. Your employer is beholden to its investors.
  - deleted 1y ago
    [deleted]

BeetleB 1y ago

Indeed. Years ago, someone I know worked at a VC backed HW startup. It failed. The founder personally met with several CEOs of other companies saying "Hey, we're going to fail. I've got great employees. Do you want to hire them en masse?" He wasn't selling his company. Just finding a home for the employees. Who ended up hiring them? Jensen Huang. This was at a time Nvidia's survival was at stake. He personally traveled to the site (not Bay Area), gave a presentation to the engineers, and tried to convince them to join. Treated them well - it wasn't a case of "Hey, you've got no options other than me" but "Please consider joining me."