joshjkim

13 ms·

61.
by joshjkim 11y ago
True - probably, founders have no choice. One side note though: it's increasingly common for founder's to cash out a few million in later stage rounds, often under wraps, to "keep them from being tempted to take lower buyout
62.
by joshjkim 11y ago
Very little can be done, and it's designed that way. Capital > labor, all that. The best option is to attempt downside protection by selling shares in the secondary market, even at a discount - of course, Spotify being a EU company,
63.
by joshjkim 11y ago
Oh, and I would not be surprised if Apple basically times major announcements re: Apple Music (subscriber numbers, if good, or new product features, etc.) around Spotify's IPO date and first earnings call to kill the pricing on both fr
64.
by joshjkim 11y ago
"TPG and Dragoneer can sell their shares just 90 days after the IPO, before the 180-day lockup period ends for Spotify’s employees and other investors." Among many the bad terms disclosed in the article, IMO this is probably the w
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by joshjkim 11y ago
ah yes, ur right. not cheaper.
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by joshjkim 11y ago
also - it would be good to know, are they: 1. payments from customers to you 2. payments from you to users 3. revshare marketplace payments (payments between two users, of which you take % a cut) 4. pure marketplace payments (payments betwe
67.
by joshjkim 11y ago
not sure if low margins = smaller $$ value for each payment or just small % your taking, but Paypal offers a micro-transaction fee rate: 5% + 5 cents (USD). For transactions under $12, this is usually preferable to the standard rates from P
68.
by joshjkim 11y ago
3 reasons that, in early stages, startups have customer service at their HQs (IMO), and why it makes (financial) sense to move them to lower cost areas when a startup reaches a certain size: (1) at the early stage basically everyone is part
69.
by joshjkim 11y ago
This is a copy/paste from a prior HN discussion that I had: [it's definitely true] that employees are discouraged from seeking buyers because there is an unspoken implication that this means the employee is "losing faith&quot
70.
by joshjkim 11y ago
ha yes, these are always juicy (having seen a few from the inside...). I would have loved to see the maneuverings during E. Pao's departure from Reddit, for example. Overall, for most the execs and companies, a healthy severance packag
71.
Munchery’s chief customer experience officer leaves company (after 5 mo)(techcrunch.com)
5 points by joshjkim 11y ago|2 comments
72.
by joshjkim 11y ago
same here - e-mail in my profile. i have a good amt of experience on this type of stuff.
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by joshjkim 11y ago
IDM could also stand for "intelligent dance music" https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intelligent_dance_music lame term i think, but it exists!
74.
by joshjkim 11y ago
2 things: (1) this may change soon but for the past 2 years I've seen a decent % of startups pay around the Google scale ($130-$160), with raises not too far from the scale set-out in the article. However, the big difference of course
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by joshjkim 11y ago
Yes, they do! Other VCs are kind of following suit, but it sure cuts into those management fees so they aren't running to it =)
76.
by joshjkim 11y ago
you are right, I've worked with a few. Problem is that it's a cost to the company they often don't want and they don't value the work (I think this is what SA is trying to change). Also, vetting/hiring folks etc. is
77.
by joshjkim 11y ago
Interesting idea: VCs should have in-house finance folks specifically meant to work with portfolio companies who spent a few days a month for year 1 after investment, or until the company gets it own finance team. Most VCs do less than 10-1
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by joshjkim 11y ago
You are right, IF the early markets are still not profitable - the key numbers that we don't have are: how are the first 100 cities they launched doing? how are the first 10 cities they launched doing? If those cities have achieved pro
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Good Eggs lays off 140 and shuts down 3 out of 4 markets(blog.goodeggs.com)
2 points by joshjkim 11y ago|0 comments
80.
by joshjkim 11y ago
Basic rundown of Rev / Loss from reports: Q1.12: 1.4M / 3.4M Q2.12: 2.1M /2.3M Q3.12: 4.3M / 5.4M Q4.12: 8.2M / 7.0M Q1.13: 12.9M / 7.3M Q2.13: 19.3M / 8.1M 2013 (total): 104M / 56M Q1.14: 45.6M &#x2F
81.
by joshjkim 11y ago
Good Eggs just laid of 140 people, more than 50% of it's workforce and shut down 3 out of 4 of their markets - only SF, their HQ, will remain, and even the SF office sustained layoffs. They are Sequoia/Index backed, and raised $21
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by joshjkim 11y ago
Missing from the article: the fact that employees are discouraged from seeking buyers because there is an unspoken implication that this means the employee is "losing faith" or "believes less" in the company, or is getti
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by joshjkim 11y ago
hm, but i don't think most founders have founder series preferred. It was getting more popular for a few years but the trend seems to have died down - if you have evidence to the contrary, I'd be curious to see. Mine's anecdo
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by joshjkim 11y ago
It's the AMT issue. In your example, if the company's valuation increased by 50X, the spread between the FMV and the exercise price would be $1,000,000, so you would have to pay taxes on AMT income of $980,000 - assuming AMT is 20
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by joshjkim 11y ago
you're right on the disclosure issue and cost issue - but I've always been more concerned with voting rights, which a strange interloper would certainly have. Especially in the context of M&A, the risk of a rogue common shar
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by joshjkim 11y ago
It's getting easier with companies like sharespost.com but securities regulation generally discourage the sale of private company stock in any "open" (aka. public) way - this is ostensibly to protect buyers of stock from inve
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by joshjkim 11y ago
if they are selling the product, yes, you're right. But if it's a true acquihire (which I was assuming..) and they are going to shut down the product and dump the IP, then it's basically just a really expensive hire no? In al
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by joshjkim 11y ago
It's somewhat confounding but the simplest way to think of it is that's it's a really expensive recruiting play - it's positioned as an acquisition because: 1. There's real value to calling it an acquisition, to bot
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by joshjkim 11y ago
As most people here point out, hard to say without more details. Here's the simplest practical advice I can offer: if you have any options vested and have not exercised, buy them immediately so that you become a voting shareholder. It
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by joshjkim 11y ago
Supplemental note: I'm not saying they did this by design or that this means Ellen succeeded. The ideal outcome for her would have been to manage that negotiation and positioning herself, identifying and settling into the middle ground

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