No one is getting paid. Everyone involved is taking a loss. Humane turned $200M of venture capital into a $100M company. At best, some investors are getting $0.50 on the dollar.
This is a non sequitur. The original comment referred to the $116M HP paid to acquire the assets. None of that was paid to employees.
Yes, Humane burned through $200M of investor capital, and some of it was spent on salaries for employees. The employees likely accepted lower cash salaries than were otherwise competitive, in exchange for equity which is now worthless. What is your point exactly?
Are you suggesting the employees pulled a fast one somehow because the investors paid their salaries? That’s, obviously, how venture-backed startups work, and everyone involved (especially the investors) is very aware of the trade. In exchange, the investors own much more of the company than the employees and have a much higher upside potential if the company succeeds.
Honest question: isn't that really how 99.9999% of all startups are? Wouldn't those who chose to work at Humane realize the moon-shoot risks of working there? I have eschewed working at VC-backed startups for this very reason; if they're not self-sustaining they're a no-go for me. I don't play the lottery either; but, there are plenty of people who do for a 1 in a 400B chance at winning.
The advantage of working at startups (for me) is the fast-paced, open-goaled environment. I love the fact that a large part of my role at the company is shepherding two products that literally didn't exist four months ago, and which are now on the verge of contributing materially to our bottom line.
I've worked at large companies that were so focused on the quarterly results that almost everything was incremental; that were so entrenched that very little changed at all; that were so tech-debt-laden and understaffed that almost nothing could get done; and where tech was simply not the focus. None of that is fun.
The risk-reward aspect is secondary to the philosophy of the place for me.
You can get hired at some startups but don't actually have to work very hard because you are friend with the founders, etc. So you become for example Executive Assistant, or some minor roles that have almost no reporting needed. It's more common than it seems.
Of course if you are externally hired engineer it could be that you really have to do hard work, but, again, it depends.
