

Who Else Wants 1,000 Options? - danielodio
http://danielodio.com/who-else-wants-1000-options

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lutusp
This offer undermines the reason for having options (building loyalty among
employees in lieu of high pay at a time when the company can't afford high
salaries). To me, giving away options to non-employees is the sign on an
inexperienced company.

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danielodio
There's a cost to everything. One of those costs is hiring someone (or some
company) to do testing -- something that's especially hard in mobile since
it's not a mature technology.

Giving away options is just another way to pay that cost. For a small company
with few employees, the ROI is pretty huge.

I'm not saying it's right or wrong, just that it's an innovative solution to a
tough problem that works well within the constraints that a very young company
has.

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lutusp
> There's a cost to everything.

My point is that when employees realize that strangers are being given
options, it diminishes their value in attracting and holding onto employees.
It undermines the loyalty factor, the incentive to be an employee.

~~~
danielodio
But that's my point exactly. There _are_ no other employees at this stage. Or
if there are, it's a co-founder or other high-equity employee.

The whole reason to do this is to keep from having to hire an employee (yet)
to handle this function.

