5 ms·
My story, along similar lines: Microsoft was recruiting me for two years, starting in 1994, while at my first startup. I kept saying no. I left the startup to w
by geophile 13y ago
My story, along similar lines: Microsoft was recruiting me for two years, starting in 1994, while at my first startup. I kept saying no. I left the startup to work, by myself, on an early ORM for Java, (back in JDK 1.0.2 days).
Microsoft approached me again, offered to buy my technology for a close to $1M, give me lots of equity (back when that stock was growing quickly), and roll out my product, (this was before Microsoft dumped Java). I would then go to work on what they wanted me for originally.
A couple of trips later, I just didn't like Microsoft, and started searching for alternatives. I found a little Boston-based startup who needed my product, and who I liked a lot. (Actually, the guy who put me on the trail of this startup had just gotten his company acquired by Microsoft.)
I got drunk, called the VP putting the offer together, and said thanks but no thanks. He said I'd be sorry.
I wasn't. I didn't make nearly as much as if I had gone to Microsoft, but I built and shipped my product, stayed on that product, worked with Java (which I liked) instead of the MS platform (which I didn't), learned a lot, had lots of fun with it, and saw the equity turn tangible. Couldn't have asked for a better outcome.
- yuhong 13y agoWhat do you think about the Sun lawsuits on MS Java?
- yuhong 13y agoTrivia: the last MSJVM updates was actually the DST updates released under the infamous $4k/year EHS DST program.
- jimmaswell 13y agoThe thing you were building was worth more than one million dollars to you? It's good that you're pleased with the outcome, but the notion just seems really bizarre to me to give up one million dollars just to keep working on one programming project on my own. Maybe there's something about it I'm just not "getting".
- sxtxixtxcxh 13y agohave you considered money isn't everything?
- jimmaswell 13y agoYes, but one million dollars just seems like a huge sum to give up for one project to me. I'm not saying they made the wrong choice, it's just one I can't see myself making. $1M is a decade of $100k a year. Money might not be /everything/ but that's a pretty comfortable life while you work on other projects or hold another job with no fear of running into serious financial problems as long as you don't do something ridiculous.
- missing_cipher 13y agoI feel the same way with the majority of these "I turned down their offer" stories. I admire them, but $1M (even across 4 years), to me is a lot of money. Enough to fund a new project and then maybe I'd think about turning down future potential buyouts having the financial stability.
- hnriot 13y agoIt's classic cognitive dissonance - they realize they made the wrong choice, so expend energy and time justifying it and explaining how they made the right choice every chance they get, as though eventually they will convince themselves. And they probably will, in time.
- geophile 13y agoSorry, but no. It was the wrong choice financially, but the right choice for my emotional well-being. I also reasoned about regrets years down the road -- I'd probably regret not having tried my own thing. And I don't explain this "every chance [I] get". I think about it rarely, and discuss it even less. I've done well enough financially that giving up the Microsoft cash just doesn't matter. I just mention it here because it seemed relevant to the topic at hand.
- benatkin 13y agoSounds like sour grapes to me. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sour_grapes http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sour_grapes
- Paul_D_Santana 13y agoDid that really need a Wikipedia link? Haha. Also humorous: My Girlfriend: What are you reading? Me: I'm reading an article about this guy that turned down $300,000 from Microsoft to build GitHub. Her: What in the heck is a GitHub? Me: A website that acts as a hub for coders to share their Git repositories. Her: Git repositories? My god, that sounds disturbing!
- kmfrk 13y agoTo be fair, most people misconstrue the moral of the fable as being about envy and bitterness, when it's mainly about rationalization to make one feel better about something unachievable or missed.
- Locke1689 13y agoJava (which I liked) instead of the MS platform (which I didn't) Could you mention a few things you prefer in Java to C#?
- josephagoss 13y agoDid C# exist around 1994 - 1998? (I assume this is when geophile's story takes place)
- pjmlp 13y agoNo, it appeared around 2001.
- mseebach 13y agoC#, the language, is nicer than Java. However, the Java ecosystem, especially in terms of open source, is way better than C#'s.
- geophile 13y agoI don't know C#. As someone else noted, this was before C# was around. I had been working in C++ for several years prior, (and in fact, built an ORM in and for C++), and Java was a step up in many ways.
- Locke1689 13y agoThe obvious answer. :) Thanks!
- kmfrk 13y agoThat's $1.584M in today's dollars, for those wondering. http://www.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=1000000+1994+dollars+today http://www.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=1000000+1994+dollars+to...