[gjsman-1000]

Happens.

I worked at a startup that offered to triple my equity if I stayed a full four years, a special offer to me for seven months of excellent performance. Four months later, growth below projections, they laid me off 19 days before my 1 year cliff. 3/9ths of the engineering team, gone.

The lesson I’ve learned is to never, ever, put long hours into a startup you don’t own. Ever.

[SoftTalker]

Even you you had cleared the cliff the equity is going to end up worthless 90% of the time.

Equity is a carrot that you usually never get, like the donkey you just keep chasing it.

[andytratt]

equity is ownership, period.

[SoftTalker]

It's only worth what someone will pay for it. And often there are no buyers.

[andytratt]

sounds true. i wouldn't know

[SoftTalker]

I've had equity in a couple of start-ups. None of it ever ended up being worth anything. Remember your equity is a lower priority claim on assets than a creditor has in a bankruptcy.

[0x3f]

When you say own you mean fractionally, or founder level share only?

The thing is even if you 'have' the equity share as an employee, you might never get liquidity. And (super obviously) most startups fail.

So even if you have a decent chunk of 'ownership', you really, _really_ need to believe in it to be working those hours. I'm talking the kind of belief built on your specialist and insider knowledge about why it's very likely to crush everything else. And even then you can get screwed!

[andytratt]

most people do not understand the underlying value of the securities they hold.

[andytratt]

capitalismUnlocked.com

[andytratt]

dam thats dark i'd want my employees grinding and loving it. like Richie: $10M to $400M+ topline in one year and their culture seems healthy

https://aiosmedical.notion.site/working-at-aios https://www.linkedin.com/posts/richard-cartwright_40x-in-12m...

disclosure he's my friend and i already re-posted this to linkedin

[andytratt]

oh as reticulates says this may be incredibly potent revisionism. fair warning. like those california labels you get cancer by walking into this parking garage.

[andytratt]

woah that is super rough actually. i'm sorry gjsman-1000 thanks for sharing on HN sincerely. i think more war stories makes the world a better place, in that we build the culture forward one brick at a time. one human talking to another, at a time. this is powerful stuff.

[andytratt]

this is true.

[andytratt]

own your means of production, own your future

-karl marx