limeyx

Its because startups have become much "cooler" now, compared to back then. Plus its hard to get good returns investing elsewhere. Plus the lowered-bar (i.e. cloud) to starting a large scale company

So this pushes more people to do it, more companies, more investors ... and so over time "stuff gets figured out" and optimized and here's where we end up.

For instance, pretend you have a water leak and call 5 plumbers...how many of them charge basically the same (high) price ...

I too had an experience like you ... company IPO'd in 2001 and many initial engineers got $5+M including someone who started as the admin ... turning $2m into $1BN with no addiitional funding or down-rounds will do that :)

It may not be too likely but it's possible. I was employee ~60 in a startup way back when which went out for over $1BN and made out pretty well.

Devs in the 20-40 employee number were probably making out with $4-5Million

Of course things were less institutionalized and procedural than they are now.

Now I think the balance has swayed in favor of the founders/investors much more than it used to be but thats just anecdotal

Except this is actually working pretty well as opposed to ATM :)

Not with ISOs though in the US (except a possible AMT issue)

Yes, I hadn't really interviewed seriously for a while and it was essential to go back and re-review all the basics of trees, lists, sorting, searching etc.

Problem is there is such a wide variety of questions its hard to be prepared across the board ...

Equity paid for my house, gave me enough money to have a substantial retirement buffer and will pay for my kids to go through school.

Yes, more often than not its been worth "nothing" (negative if you took a lower salary to get it), but when it's worth something, it's worth something...

...and then get shutdown?

I definitely know that feeling. Prepare to leave is my best advice.

But I'd advise (depending on your circumstances of savings, chances of getting a new job soon etc) to not simply quit, but use a bit of time to really put yourself in a strong position to get a new job w/out the pressure of needing one.

if its a big company maybe you could transfer to a new team ?

Seems easier to just show the passport than have to sign up for a couple of tours in Iraq/Syria though...

So if I said "The sky is not blue and the sun is not yellow" they could arrest me for something ?

Not just that but appointments in the middle of the day so you get to choose between your job or go back to jail ... not so smart

Indeed. When only the rich and wealthy can afford legal services and everyone else is forced to plea-bargain to things they didnt even do in order to avoid the threat of decades behind bars ... something has gone wrong.

How many VW Bugs is that ?

I've yet to see most ICE's get 500K miles w/out - O2 sensors failing - Expensive oil leaks - Lots of belts need replacing - Head gasket need replacing (pretty expensive)

Sure a 1980s Merc Diesel might make 500K and the ICE itself might last that long but the surrounding components are not cheap to maintain ....

Rename it as maayonnnaise ? haha

The real danger in a split or reverse with a private company is they can pretty freely change your ratio of unvested: vested stock, trapping you into 4 more years of servitude.

Had that happen to me once and saw others go through it at another company since then that I joined afterwards.

Want to discuss morale killers ? This is a pretty good one

Well said.

Nice explanation. So far no luck here in being allowed early exercise :(

Got it right with 7 nos.

Absolutely repulsive. The people giving this "evidence" should be put in jail and the key thrown away.

You can get a pre-paid one

Food delivery app idea looking pretty OK about now :)

Possibly but that amount will barely buy you a decent penthouse pad in Manhattan ....

seems a bit mean to me honestly ... i mean I guess most people would raise an eyebrow at a 16-digit code but still ...

Not that nice of a way to say "Welcome to the team"

"no no no, you're not being laid off oh heavens no, you're being 'synergied" now give me your key fob and get out" ...

...that you probably didn't even get to go to !

Oh no, most definitely not! This is totally different! Really totally different !!!

Easy solution: Put a big button on the app "Report ADA violation"

This would be an awesome chance for Uber to take a leadership position and embrace rather than try to avoid & deny.

Looks like that wont happen though ...

Not only that (point3?) Treat employees like you actually want them to be around for five plus years.

Don't start counting "accrued vacation days" in .01 hourly increments to get you "two weeks per year" allow flexible work hours / work from home

Allow for movement between different departments ...

Dont simply look at employees as an interchangeable unit of resource to exploit ...this street has to go two mays...