[baldajan]

"able to maintain their own lifestyles using grants from the Canadian government" - that's absolutely false. North/Thalmic was flush with cash for a long time, and though their Myo didn't sell "well" - it still brought in millions.

Not denying the founders had lavish lifestyles, but they were running a company that raised 15M series A, and 120M series B - so that's honestly "expected". The grant I assume you're referencing was a 34M loan, which was to be paid out over time, and was recalled once North announced layoffs last year.

I won't defend their business decisions or argue they were a "promising startup" - I think they deserve the criticism. But I'd rather not throwout some false stories or accusations.

[modeless]

It's "expected" that founders extract millions from a failing company while employees working for years at below market salaries get nothing? I don't disagree but it's just sad.

The startup lottery just doesn't make sense for employees, even early ones. Founder is the only position worth holding. Early employees need to start demanding more from their founders.

[8ytecoder]

My personal experience strongly says so as well. Been a very employee at two different companies - at least one made an “exit” - only the founder made any money at all. I took a deep pay cut for two years.

[antoniuschan99]

The startups my dev colleagues worked in Toronto, the ones that got acquired none got any equity. I think it’s common in Toronto for employees at startups to not get equity. Ive also read canadian founders often sell below their companies worth

[blahbhthrow3748]

That's not correct, it sounds like they got rolled.

[908B64B197]

I'll put it differently, they raised almost as much as what Google was willing to pay for the Intel Vaunt patents.

They got to milk government grants for a few years and managed to sell the company (really the patents) at a premium before it went bankrupt.

Had they been able to sell more units and make a viable product they would probably have been able to raise more.

[gt2]

Is it just common knowledge the founders have lavish lifestyles or was there talk in articles about the company/product?

[baldajan]

I know them.

Maybe lavish is a bit of hyperbole. And after their 15M series A, I can assume they had competitive salaries given their life decisions (modest homes and cars).