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I turned down a recent offer from a startup aftet being offered x-thousand shares of common stock because they wouldn't give me any details about what other inv

I turned down a recent offer from a startup aftet being offered x-thousand shares of common stock because they wouldn't give me any details about what other investors had priority shares over that among other basic questions.

pbreit 11y ago
I'm not sure I would ding a prospective employer for withholding that information. I would be OK with known the rough amount raised and that it's probably all about 1x preferred. In addition to what % and strike price I'm being offered. I don't think most employees need to know the details of all the fundraising.
- sosuke 11y ago
  If there was a better way to know the value of stock I'd take it. They are going to give me 20,000. 20,000 of what? What is 1 worth, is it worth something if the company sells now, tomorrow, over valuation, under valuation. Those things are important if stock is part of your compensation.
  - pbreit 11y ago
    Yes, agree, you need to know what % of the company the shares/options represent (either by knowing the % or by knowing the shares outstanding).
    - choppaface 11y ago
      If there are a good amount of shares with a greater than 1x preference and/or the employee pool (with no preference) is much smaller than usual, then the company should make additional disclosure of this information.
  - dccoolgai 11y ago
    Exactly. That's what I ended up telling them: "Thanks for offering me 5000 shares of your company, but you won't give me any details about what they're worth... did you issue 50 million shares? 5 million? If someone is stupid enough to take something that you won't tell them how much it is worth, you are going to end up with stupid/naive engineers and you will fail.
    - pbreit 11y ago
      But the only concern you mentioned was about the priority of other shareholders which I think is a bit much.
      - to3m 11y ago
        "among other basic questions"... If this stuff is being given as if it's worth something, you need to know what that value is! And it's no good asking the people offering it you. Of course they'll tell you it's worth a lot! Whether they believe it or not - something about which I am genuinely agnostic - for every cynical, reptile-eyed psychopath, there's somebody who's downed a yard of koolaid - it's in their interest to emphasise the potential value of non-hard-currency compensation, because it's cheaper to pay you that way than it is to find the (supposed) equivalent in actual money.

pbreit 11y ago

I'm not sure I would ding a prospective employer for withholding that information. I would be OK with known the rough amount raised and that it's probably all about 1x preferred. In addition to what % and strike price I'm being offered. I don't think most employees need to know the details of all the fundraising.

sosuke 11y ago
If there was a better way to know the value of stock I'd take it. They are going to give me 20,000. 20,000 of what? What is 1 worth, is it worth something if the company sells now, tomorrow, over valuation, under valuation. Those things are important if stock is part of your compensation.
- pbreit 11y ago
  Yes, agree, you need to know what % of the company the shares/options represent (either by knowing the % or by knowing the shares outstanding).
  - choppaface 11y ago
    If there are a good amount of shares with a greater than 1x preference and/or the employee pool (with no preference) is much smaller than usual, then the company should make additional disclosure of this information.
- dccoolgai 11y ago
  Exactly. That's what I ended up telling them: "Thanks for offering me 5000 shares of your company, but you won't give me any details about what they're worth... did you issue 50 million shares? 5 million? If someone is stupid enough to take something that you won't tell them how much it is worth, you are going to end up with stupid/naive engineers and you will fail.
  - pbreit 11y ago
    But the only concern you mentioned was about the priority of other shareholders which I think is a bit much.
    - to3m 11y ago
      "among other basic questions"... If this stuff is being given as if it's worth something, you need to know what that value is! And it's no good asking the people offering it you. Of course they'll tell you it's worth a lot! Whether they believe it or not - something about which I am genuinely agnostic - for every cynical, reptile-eyed psychopath, there's somebody who's downed a yard of koolaid - it's in their interest to emphasise the potential value of non-hard-currency compensation, because it's cheaper to pay you that way than it is to find the (supposed) equivalent in actual money.