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Comment by cptskippy | Hacker News Reader

I worked on a team of three people in the early 2000s to develop one of the first web based automotive insurance underwriting applications for an insurance broker. It was a low volume program and as such they hired a single marketing representative to cover the entire state of Pennsylvania. He worked on commission and was expected to make in the high five figures.

It ended up being wildly more successful than anticipated and pulled in double digit millions the first year. The marketing representative's commission ended up being middle six figures as a result.

He sent us a case of Tastykake snack cakes as thanks. That was all we got in the way of thanks from the company.

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Was it really his responsibility to give your team a lavish thanks? Sounds like he had a windfall, but working on commission can very easily go the opposite direction.

Was the wild success of the initiative due to your team’s outstanding technical genius?

It wasn't his responsibility to reward us, and he gave us the gift pretty soon after the program's launch as thanks for the support we gave him and his top producer. I wasn't admonishing him, he was a genuinely nice guy. I only mentioned his fortune to give perspective on how profitable the program was.

A producer at this broker made just over $50k on commission if they busted ass. This program was so successful that he made close to half a million.

I mentioned his gift not because it was shitty but because it was the only form of thanks or acknowledgement we received.

It was actually a great gift at the time because we're located in Little Debbie country and didn't even know what Tastykake was. It contextualize so much pop culture (e.g. Clerks).

"Sounds like he had a windfall, but working on commission can very easily go the opposite direction"

Well, I'm a bit skeptical. Someone who makes $500K unexpectedly isn't going to lose $500K unexpectedly.

One year you sell $500k worth of software to customers, the next customers sell $500k worth of software to you. Easy come, easy go, it's a zero-sum game.

I believe that, without anyone to implement the system, it would have made zero dollars.

Probably not, but this is more patronizing than thankful. I'd rather get nothing than $3 of snack cakes

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