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by erobbins 4308 days ago
I think it's far more entitled to think that because someone had a good idea and either connections, money, or a great pitch that they are entitled to 1000x more money than the people who actually turned the concept from a napkin into reality.

During the previous bubble I was employee #20 of a company that ended up having a $900M exit 5 years later.. I got less than 100k out of the deal. Do I think I was entitled to 50 million dollars? No way.. but I certainly think I added at LEAST 1 million dollars worth of that value.

1 comments

What if the company was really worth $9 millions at its peak post-bubble, but its founder's good/lucky timing selling it near the peak of the bubble gave it a 100x multiplier?

Say your contribution to the company is worth 1% of the company's value, would you say you added $90k to the value of the company or $9 million?

It actually weathered the bubble collapse and was sold later, in 2003, after it was profitable.

I think it's hard to put a percentage on any single employee's contribution to a company's success, but I also think it's ludicrous to say that the combined value of every employee's contribution is worth less than a single founder's contribution. It's just dishonest.