
90 Days and My Six-Figure Mistake - sajid
https://medium.com/@ben_mathes/90-days-and-my-six-figure-mistake-a495f4a188e2#.xn6mw98h0
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benmathes
Author here. Yes, that was my stupidity at 24 that cost me over $100k. Woohoo!

Ask away. This is early, feedback welcome.

Loads of edge cases to explore and catch. For the most part, saves the
30-minutes “this is how equity works” conversation, and tries to prevents
mistakes on both sides.

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buzzdenver
How come you were considered an insider ? In my experience that's C*O level.

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benmathes
IIRC (8+ years ago), athenahealth was very open with internal data, as part of
building an internal culture of honesty and trust. The Exec team walked the
walk and showed us very detailed financial info during all-hands.

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brutus1213
Heh .. I'm 37, in tech and still struggling to make the downpayment. I wonder
how many well-payed tech folks in their 30s are in a similar position where we
are completely screwed for housing?

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benmathes
Just have to put away 5k/month to afford a barebones downpayment... in 5
years.

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qwrusz
Important issue. Glad it's being talked about and worked on.

A bit of a tangent, but I see the author in the comments and that he is at a
VC now. Im not a founder or VC, but do have a Q: to what extent do you see
common term sheet practices and current gov regulations causing issues for
founders?

Clearly employee equity letters could be more fair, and I realize founders
have opportunities to exit that later employees don't get. But to what extent
are founders being educated on the risk/reward involved in starting a startup,
taking VC funds and their term sheet implications? and are some founders
pushing back or deciding not to take the risk of starting a startup at all?

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marssaxman
> Once an employee learns how equity really works, they often leave startups.
> Want to make money? Go work at Google.

Want to be happy? Stop worrying about making money, accept you never really
will, and go work for a startup with people you like who are trying to
accomplish something interesting.

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minimaxir
Note: article is pretext for a product ad.

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benmathes
That experience was the instigator. It's why I wanted to make the product.

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minimaxir
That does not match the intent of the headline, which makes it a form of
clickbait as opposed to an "Announcing a Clear Letter of Equity and
Remuneration" headline.

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benmathes
Fair. I went too terse with the title.

