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| 2009/5/8-14 [Finance/Banking] UID:52969 Activity:nil |
5/7 Does Goldman Sach's really rule the world?
http://tinyurl.com/c67jdu |
| 2009/5/8-14 [Industry/Startup] UID:52970 Activity:kinda low |
5/7 (I am revising my numbers, in my fit of rage at 4am in the morn,
I made some math errors I didn't feel like correcting. anyway...)
I work at a year old startup, 50 employees, pre-IPO (duh!), exit
strategy is to either become profitable company or get bought,
almost profitable but not quite, fast paced, lots of work,
everyone pulls weight, I just found out my non founder CEO makes
475k a year because junior office admin girl had to tell immigration
the stock holding values held by one of our employees. I have
calculated the CEO's options are 1010X mine. I've been here almost
2.5 years, he started in Sept 2008.
Also another question, is salary of your CEO usually common
public knowledge at a startup? or any company?
\_ Please start another thread, rather than edit the original post.
Now a bunch of the comments don't make sense.
\_ 1000x? Sounds like he's getting too much (10%?) and you're getting
too little (.01%?). The Phoenix thing and the high salary are the
real red flags. I'd write this company off and continue to work
there because the economy sucks, but be ready to look for a job in
the next 12 months. How many years out of school are you?
\_ ob boss-napping!
\_ Not in my opinion and I have worked at lots of startups.
Unfortunately, it is all too common. How senior are you?
You should be getting between .1-.4% of the total outstanding
company stock every four years in vested options, imo.
Here is a guy I found who says pretty much the same thing:
http://piaw.blogspot.com/2009/01/stock-compensation-at-startups.html
\_ thanks for posting this. i still feel screwed. and not in a
good way.
\_ You know piaw@blogspot = piaw@soda.
\_ I heard Piaw got an $80k/yr job offer as a fresh grad, and
that was year 1993. I got an $40k/yr offer as a fresh grad
that year.
\_ Is Piaw a stud? I graduated that year and got offered
$34k/yr by the UC, but quickly moved to Taos, making
$50k/yr.
\_ Piaw would take classes like Math 104 for fun.
(At least it was Math 104 when I was there.)
At the time, Math 104 was the math department
weeder class. I owe Piaw my A in
Math 55 (at the time). I sucked in that class
until the final. Piaw had told me to take that
class under Lenstra, he said Lenstra was good,
these were Piaw's words: "Lenstra is very good.
His exams are very straightforward. If something
doesn't work, then try something else." Into the
final I went, with a C+ going in. Math 55 was not
a class which my brain worked well on. I have never
worked so hard on a class with so little result,
before or since, exept for the final. In the final,
for each problem, it was as if Piaw was there, in my
head, repeating, "His exams are very straightforward..."
And I took this ghostly advice, again and again
during the exam, and got all but one problem.
Fortunately, Lenstra had said, "if you don't like one
problem, throw that one out. Oh, and BTW, if you
do well on the final, we'll replace your mid-term
grade, too." And that is how Piaw's awesomeness
got me an A in Math 55, when I started with a C+.
I doubt Piaw remembers me, but I sure won't ever
forget him. And if some friend of Piaw's wants
to send this on to him, feel free. I have never
experienced a more powerful moment of happiness than
when I exited that final exam--1 hour early, looking
back at everyone else struggling with it, knowing
I'd aced it. I was literally dancing with joy.
--PeterM
\_ Holy shit. This piaw guy sounds like a God. We
should get him involved in CSUA again.
\_ I also heard that he once TA'ed a class he was
taking.
\_ Salary sounds way high. Stockwise it sounds like you just accepted
the offer you were given. You can go to your CEO and tell him you
want more stock.
\_ $500K/year seems reasonable. He's the CEO. You don't think he
should make 4X what a developer makes? His options might be out
of line, but that's not coming out of your bottom line anyway.
Is he doing a good job? I'm not really sure what your point is.
Would you feel better if he made $280K/year? What would it matter?
\_ Difficult to say. He lives in Phoenix. We're in bay area.
He also has a house in London. He makes an appearance here
once every few weeks. I hear him on company conf call if I want
to but I've missed the last 4, I've been way too busy to care.
we prob pay his plane fair and SF hotel too. I'd feel better
about slaving away all week if he were around to watch.
We recently layed off a bunch of developers and a couple of
sales account execs, I think to impress the board of directors
with our cost cutting skills. we shouldn't be paying our
fatass CEO (he's HUGE) 1/2 mil a year and more equity than every
other non founder employee COMBINED.
\- you are saying for every $20k your stock options are worth,
he will get $1bn? these numbers dont seem to add up ...
either you have some seriously optimistic estimates of
the valuation growth of your company, or your options arent
worth jack [i.e. if he is taking away $1m for every $20
you get]. Let's take Adobe with mkt cap of ~$15bn ... if
this guy owns 10% of the company, then you are looking at
your options being worth $30k, not a sum which would greatly
affect your life. If he owns 5% of the company, then you
seem to need some pretty optimistic growth expectations
to have your options to be worth more than a car ...
unless the expectation down the road is you'll be getting
lots more options and the current grant is more like a
bonus up front rather than the sum of your vesting
expectations. Run the numbers on a billion dollar valuation,
and your options are going to be worth a nice vacation.
\_ good points, my math was wrong in my original rant.
\_ you are making me sad again.
\_ I don't believe the numbers you gave. Where did you find them? $500K
for a startup CEO is really high, VC's generally hate that. I'd
expect a startup CEO to get paid in the $150-250K (maybe 300K) range.\
VC's want to give the founders/CEO enough money to feel like they
expect a startup CEO to get paid in the $150-250K (maybe 300K) range.
VC's want to give the founders/CEO enough money to feel like they
have to work their asses off to make a living. The salary is just
enough to get by (ya, $250K sounds like a lot, but it's not that
ridiculous). As for the stock, piaw's blog seems very reasonable.
Don't think that "10,000 options" is a lot, you really have to look
at it as a percentage of total outstanding stock. A friend of mine
was negotiating and asked that question and they told him that the
board wouldn't allow them to share that number. I call bullshit, but
does anyone know if there's any truth to this?
As for the stock options, lets assume there are 1M outstanding.
Non-founder CEOs generally get 2-5% of outstanding stock. So that
would leave him with about 50K options on the high end and you with
1K (or 0.1%). That seems about right. How long have you been out of
school and how many employees were there when you started? I hope
you didn't get screwed on a super-low salary because they told you
the stock would make you millions.
Lastly, this CEO in Pheonix thing sounds like the biggest red flag
of all. Why is the CEO not where the company is based? Sounds like
he is a sales-CEO type and travels a lot with a big budget. What
kind of VC backing does your company have? Can you name one of the
VC's? --abe
\_ He said his CEO was getting 50000X his stock, not 50X. Your
numbers seem right. His are hard to believe. In your example,
the CEO would be getting 50K options and the worker bee 1 option.
Yes, one share of stock. Hard to believe.
\_ 50000X number was wrong, sorry. --q
\_ So was it 50X? If so, quit your bellyachin'.
\_ No, the salary of employees at private companies is usually not
public knowledge. At a public company, the top five compensated
employees salaries are in the 10-K filed every year, so the CEOs
salary is almost always one of those, and therefore public
knowledge. $475k seems a bit high for a startup with 50 employees
unless he is an MD or something like that, but it is not completely
absurd. |
| 2009/5/8-14 [Computer/SW/SpamAssassin] UID:52971 Activity:nil |
5/7 Dear csua, looks like /usr/bin/spamc and /usr/bin/formail don't exist
on the emailer. I'm getting a bunch of binaries not found error
on my .procmail-log.
\_ Complaining via motd is not a reliable way to be heard and get your
stuff fixed. Try emailing us. --t |
| 2009/5/8-14 [Computer/SW/Languages/C_Cplusplus, Computer/SW/Languages/Java] UID:52972 Activity:nil |
5/7 http://james-iry.blogspot.com/2009/05/brief-incomplete-and-mostly-wrong.html \_ 1964 - John Kemeny and Thomas Kurtz create BASIC, an unstructured programming language for non-computer scientists. 1965 - Kemeny and Kurtz go to 1964. This should not have made me giggle so much. \_ GODDAMNIT, now you've got me giggling. \_ 1996 - James Gosling invents Java. Java is a relatively verbose, garbage collected, class based, statically typed, single dispatch, object oriented language with single implementation inheritance and multiple interface inheritance. Sun loudly heralds Java's novelty. 2001 - Anders Hejlsberg invents C#. C# is a relatively verbose, garbage collected, class based, statically typed, single dispatch, object oriented language with single implementation inheritance and multiple interface inheritance. Microsoft loudly heralds C#'s novelty. |
| 2009/5/8-15 [Reference/Law/Court] UID:52973 Activity:kinda low |
5/8 http://csua.com/?entry=52724 I had my day in court today. Was awarded the $350 he owed me, $150 in damages, and $200 for having to drive down from SF to LA. If I had a pay stub, he probably would have given me money for PTO. The case went extremely quickly. He asked when I moved out, how long I lived there (2.5 years) and if I got a statement of deductions within 21 days. I hadn't (postmark was 24 days) and he asked the landlord if he mailed it within 21 days. The landlord (who is old and nearly blind) said that he was sick and was a few days late. But the judge said that the law was "very, very strict" when it comes to the deposit and that was the end of that. He didn't care whether or not the deductions were "reasonable". Yay justice! In a month or two, I'll send an update with how my collection process is going. \_ good job taking $700 from a blind man! \_ your brain has been classified as: slave of emotion \_ http://antagonie.blogspot.com/2009/04/attack-of-returned-evil-blind-dead.html \_ justice! just because he's old means he can arbitrarily deduct money? his wife always seemed very lady-macbeth-like. \_ good job. blind or not, he was probably relying on your being out of the area. as i advised you earlier, the law is pretty strict, so as long as the judge find you credible [tried to work it out, so as long as the judge finds you credible [tried to work it out, not asking for $10,000], he'd probably rule for you. \_ good job, seconded the above comment. Being old or insane or stupid are not excuses. I congratulate you. You've learned to fight for your justice, and that you'll need to do this over and over again throughout your lifetime so better learn to fight for your right now than later. Life is unfair, and the law is for your rights now than later. Life is unfair, and the law is there to help you. In this case, the law prevailed because you did your job as a citizen of justice. Good job, and CONGRATS! you did your job as a citizen of justice. Also, by doing so, you're indirectly helping your fellow citizens as your action is a deterrent for future offenders. Good job, I whole heartedly thank you for being such a good citizen, and CONGRATS! \_ I second this sentiment. \_ with small claims, getting the judgement is the easy part. Collecting on it is what is hard. \_ i dont get the sense that this guy is a "hardened criminal" but just going for the easy shakedown. i suspect if the fmr tenant indicates he'll file for a lien against the property, and/or contempt of court, this guy will pay, if not immediately upon losing, since the fmr tenant has already demonstrated "resolve". \_ Here is what happened to me if you're wondering: I lent my motorcycle to a "friend" in the parking lot who was begging to learn from me. He's a full time bus driver in San Diego. We did this many times, so why not. He went fast, and wrecked it, but promised payment and gave me his contact, and left. Two I lent my motorcycle to a "friend" in the parking lot. He's a full time bus driver in San Diego. Why lent the motorcycle? I've done it many times with my other friends, so why not. He wrecked it, promised payment, gave me his contact, and left. Two weeks later he said "Sorry you should have known better, you've learned your lesson." I filed for SC and served the paper to his address but it's fake. I totally forgot that he also specialized in fake IDs. Anyways, I hired a PI who helped me get through the process, step by step. Fees included getting his actual address, his employer information, serving paper (actually very hard since he could refuse signing and invalidate my SC, which he did), and collection. Around the same time I also "consulted" with a lawyer for 10 minutes and charged only $45 but he was COMPLETELY USELESS. Anyways, I filed, then he delayed the court date, then I won the case, then he appealed, then he delayed the appeal court date, then finally I won the case again. I wrote him 2 letter asking for payment, and after a month of inaction as anticipated, I got in touch with his employer's Wage Garnishment Department to collect payment (yes, a lot of bus drivers are child molesters, debters, and shady characters in general so they have a special department just for that). Yes I got paid but then I started getting "weird" calls. I moved and changed my number, several times. What an adventure, but it was all worth it. The best part was the court made him pay for my private investigator because he was so elusive! The judge hated that! LOL he sure learned his lesson. Here is the full chono: 2003: 4/3 http://csua.com/?entry=27971 wreck "car" (really a motorcycle) 5/8 http://csua.com/?entry=28377 he gave me a fake ID 6/14 http://csua.com/?entry=28730 can I use digital pictures? 7/1 http://csua.com/?entry=28888 his friend refused to go to court 10/8 http://csua.com/?entry=10547 won first time 10/31 http://csua.com/?entry=10888 thinking back 11/5 http://csua.com/?entry=10954 he delays court date 2004: 1/20 http://csua.com/?entry=11839 lawyer in small claims? 1/27 http://csua.com/?entry=11974 serving the paper? 4/6 http://csua.com/?entry=13034 Garnishment how to's 4/7 http://csua.com/?entry=13067 Writ of Execution (garnishment) 5/22 http://csua.com/?entry=30368 Got notice about garnishment 6/2 http://csua.com/?entry=30550 Got my MONEY!!! 9/23 http://csua.com/?entry=33725 Beware of retaliation, esp. from shady characters Unrelated to the above, but goody (not me, but was interesting): http://csua.com/?entry=12128 Landlord asshole http://csua.com/?entry=26050 Move out deductions? http://csua.com/?entry=28520 $150 worth suing? http://csua.com/?entry=31179 Holiday Inn assholes \_ my life is so boring \_ Curious: how did you win in the first place? it sounded like you couldn't get the witness (friend of the opponent) to cooperate, so I wonder what proof you had. |
| 2009/5/8-14 [Health/Disease/General] UID:52974 Activity:nil |
5/7 "More cell phone users dropping landlines"
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090506/ap_on_go_ot/us_cell_phones_only
"People who live in homes that have only wireless service tend to be
disproportionately low-income, ..."
1. Don't cancel your land line. That low-tech thing is a status
symbol!
\_ too late. I just don't see any reason, considering that I don't
have a stable job that I can keep for more than 3 years at a time.
2. Why on earth does the Ccenter of DISEASE Control care enough about
2. Why on earth does the Center of DISEASE Control care enough about
this to spend money to conduct a survey?
\_ The CDC does a lot of phone surveys, like the National Immunization
Survey (which is where we get our estimates of immunization rates).
Phone surveys try to avoid calling cell phones, because it's
expensive -- you're not allowed to use automated dialers, and you
often have to pay the respondents to get them to spend their minutes
on your survey. To get meaningful results from a landline-only or
landline-mostly survey, you need to know the size (and ideally the
demographics) of the cell-only population.
\_ I thought the FCC would have such data.
\_ 2: Don't you remember than everyone on humanity's home planet was
wiped out by a disease spread by dirty phones? (Hitchiker's Guide)
\_ That was Golgafrincham
\_ ...which was humanity's home planet. |