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Comment by everdev | Hacker News Reader

Threaten to shut down the company. Then your shares are worth zero.

I believe I am the kind of person who would just say "Go ahead, shut it down if that's the only alternative. If you would like me to sign a deal to restructure the company, then I'll happily do it, but the company needs to pay me a one time cash bonus that reflects the value of the shares that I am forfeiting".

I am not naive enough to believe it would work, as they would probably find a way to screw me regardless, but my stance would be firm.

After my experience with startups I have become completely intolerant to corporate greed and injustice, so these days I am purely in a business transaction with my employer and I know exactly what to expect and when to expect it (which is why I get paid in RSUs rather than stock options). I like to think I wouldn't fall prey to this sort of petty begging.

It's better than the alternative of giving in. Shutting down / reopening the company takes $$ and I still think you'd have a decent lawsuit against the new startup.

But the new startup wouldn't yet or might not ever be worth anything and so you just gave up your steady paycheck for a chance to sue for a small percentage of possibly nothing.

They usually don't need your signature anyway. They'd just say no and move on. The vote of the majority of the shareholders, or often, just the majority of the preferred shareholders, are enough.

But then it makes wonder, why would anyone get themselves into startups anyway? Especially when you consider the relatively low compensation and high risk.

A few reasons:

* Access to decision makers

* Greenfielding a product

* Excitement / fast pace

* Novelty

* Great learning experience before launching your own venture

It's not for everyone, but I've interviewed dozens of developers who only want to work at startups for these reasons.

And for founders, obviously there's the upside of owning a business, the status of being funded, the ability to be your own boss and the potential for massive impact and wealth.

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