
Ask HN: Who is willing to work for coin? - endswapper
To be clear this would be a new coin offering for use on an existing&#x2F;launching platform.<p>I am curious if there is a broad appetite for this type of risk and compensation. For a variety of reasons I can see how it may be more appealing than equity. On the other hand, there is limited data over a limited amount of time on how coin compares to equity and a number of unknowns.<p>I am really interested in getting opinions of engineers and developers, but I&#x27;d like to hear from administrators, operations, finance and marketing professionals as well.<p>If you respond please identify as much as you can about your yourself to best understand your perspective(i.e., financial situation - favorable&#x2F;student&#x2F;struggling&#x2F;etc, your position or area of expertise, and anything else you think is relevant).<p>This is something I am considering. If you are interested you can contact me directly at endswapper at endswapper dot com. The stack is serverless, AWS Lambda and services. Right now, the emphasis is on a CTO, artificial intelligence, machine learning, cryptocurreny and internationalization.<p>I hope everyone gains some insight from the responses.<p>Thanks for your input!!!
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mtmail
I'm bookmarking this post as warning how delusional startup founders can be.

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nickthemagicman
Very ambitious too!

Right now, the emphasis is on a CTO, artificial intelligence, machine
learning, cryptocurreny and internationalization.

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jaclaz
Usually "risk" is something that can be determined mathematically (think of
probabilities) or however measurable and - even when not measurable with a
given degree of approximation - it can be usually roughly estimated.

What you seem to propose is more like an act of faith in the unknown.

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endswapper
Please pardon any confusion on this point. What I am considering (I'm not
really proposing anything) is offering a guaranteed amount of coin for working
for a short period of time (3-6 months) leading up to an ICO. After the ICO
the company would buy back all or a portion of the coin at the final ICO
price. Beyond that the coin could be exchanged (ultimately for cash) on open
exchanges.

From my perspective the work could be done remotely, full-time, part-time, on
the side, essentially whatever you like. This will likely vary depending on
the role and the work being done. As would the amount of coin.

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jaclaz
>What I am considering (I'm not really proposing anything) is offering a
guaranteed amount of coin for working for a short period of time (3-6 months)
leading up to an ICO. After the ICO the company would buy back all or a
portion of the coin at the final ICO price. Beyond that the coin could be
exchanged (ultimately for cash) on open exchanges.

I got that, but let me rewrite that as I understand it:

"I am considering to offer an UNKNOWN amount of a NON-EXISTING good, with an
UNKNOWN current unit value (be the value expressed in US$, tons of peanuts or
pounds of manganese, these units or measure are all acceptable) that will
(hopefully) in 3-6 month time start to exist and have an UNKNOWN value
(presumably higher than the UNKNOWN initial value, being moltiplied by an
UNKNOW appreciation factor, but that could as well be subject to an UNKNOWN
depreciation) and (maybe) this newly valued good will be accepted by one or
more UNKNOWN "open exchanges" where it may be traded in exchange for other
goods (typically money, i.e. US$) at an UNKNOWN rate with UNKNOWN trading
charges."

It's not even a double or nothing bet, as there is no base value of the
initial bet.

As a side note, I can offer you 2,000 spiffletrinks for 20% of the company, if
you are interested, but if you prefer fransghetmefs, we could talk, as I could
go up to 8,000 of them for the same 20%.

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RickS
My cynical hope is that this is a troll whose endgame is to point out that
this is a re-worded approach to startup options. "It's worth cents now, so
we'll give you a bunch of it, and then you code, and thats what gives it
value!"

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itamarst
Dunno about coin, but I'd be happy to work for Pogs or Beanie Babies.

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quickthrower
This might be appealing as a JV between a small number of people who are
already experts in cryptocurrencies, probably already millionaires from BTC,
putting together a new coin that solves a unsolved problem but all founders on
a equal footing.

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iDemonix
Pay peanuts, get monkeys.

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endswapper
I am not proposing peanuts, but rather a significant sum.

The advantage of coin in lieu of equity, at least in this context, is that the
participants I am seeking input from could/would be fully cashed out much
sooner than in a typical equity stake.

Additionally, the point of asking the question was to initiate a conversation
with people that consider this an option for themselves. It really comes down
to the success of the ICO event. So, good work could be rewarded handsomely on
a very short timeline. Of course, this is not without risk, and the reason I
am seeking input.

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blueadept111
Can these coins be exchanged for good and services? The answer to this
question is the same as the answer to your question.

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quickthrower
Is the coin decentralized? If so no thanks I'll mine it. Otherwise no thanks I
don't trust it.

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jklein11
Would compensation include cash as well as the coin or only the coin?

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Throwaway03485
I prefer to be paid in Schrute Bucks or Stanley Nickles, thanks.

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olivierduval
So many buzzwords... I sure can work for buzzwords!! :-D

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bdibs
I prefer Trident Layers, sorry.

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maxice
Good luck

