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by mrcwinn 979 days ago
>choose to invest more to pay severance

Deploying capital into something that literally has no return just doesn't make sense. You're also ignoring the reality that most capital comes in at the start. It doesn't come in at the end. That's an irrational investment. Would you buy a house that's burning down in the interest of the current homeowners?

Could a company receive funds at the end? Legally, sure, maybe (maybe not given fiduciary duties to LPs).

Investors would have to say to their limited partners: we're going to take your money, and hand it over to employees, and those employees will do no work for us and the company is shutting down anyway. That's a very ineffective use of capital and those types of decisions are worse in the end for the economy, I would argue, which does impact everyone.

Startups are risky for investors. They're risky for employees too. I think a better solution might be to bolster unemployment insurance. After all, investors often have downside protection (usually in the form of preferred shares or preferences). Employees need downside protection too. But let's not perverse how capital should work.

1 comments

> That's a very ineffective use of capital and those types of decisions are worse in the end for the economy

Disagree - it frees those employees to begin working for more productive companies sooner rather than drag them through "you are fired with no provisions for healthcare. Good luck and don't get sick during the donut period."

- yes, it's an special qualifying trigger for the exchanges but you are asking someone navigate this in short order(likely end of the month or less than two weeks)

Disagree to disagree - employees are free to begin working for more productive companies when they're fired with no provisions for healthcare.

In spirit though, I agree. Social healthcare not tied to employer would allow for more labor mobility. These transitions should not abrupt or catastrophic ideally.

> Disagree to disagree - employees are free to begin working for more productive companies when they're fired with no provisions for healthcare.

But that's a bad thing - because once your employment tied healthcare abruptly ends, you scramble to get something to restore it.

This may include settling or taking less optimal jobs or accepting a lower paying job.