Top all-time · #6098
Andrew Payne
Personal blog · payne.org/blog · on HN as payne92startupsbusiness
Andrew Payne's personal blog at payne.org covers startups and business. Since 2008, 12 different Hacker News readers have linked it 19 times, most often “Startup Equity For Employees”. The last post was in 2018, but the archive is still widely read.
Too few sampled comments (10) to say how often HN recommends it.?
Why HN links it
HN readers link Andrew Payne's wiki mainly for its startup equity guide, Startup_Equity_For_Employees, which covers valuing stock options and employee equity. Commenters repeatedly point people to it for these questions.
Summarised by Claude from a sample of 10 HN comments that link here. Each comment is marked recommending, critical or neutral (citing without judging); how this works.
Most-linked posts?
- Startup Equity For Employees7 people · 10 mentions · first linked 2008-04-07
- The Myth of the Myth of the 10x Programmer2 people · 2 mentions · first linked 2020-02-17
What Hacker News says?
I wrote up a model for dividing equity in the very beginning, and it often ends up with different splits among co-founders. See: https://payne.org/blog/dividing-founder-equity-in-the-very-b... TL;DR: (a) figure out ratios of ownership in the beginning (vs absolute percentages), and (b) use simple "buckets" of contribution to figure out the ratios should be. For example, the two founders that have been working on the…
Comment linking /blog/dividing-founder-equity-in-the-very-beginning/
on “Unequal Cofounders”Submitted The Myth of the Myth of the 10x Programmer as a story · 248 points
HN discussionYou can definitely pay a lawyer to explain this stuff to you. Make sure to pick one who has regular experience with startups and equity. Because a) you don't want to pay 'em to learn it, b) they'll need current experience to tell you what "normal" looks like, and c) if things go south, it's good to have an established relationship with a lawyer who regularly works in the field. The (awesome) lawyer I've used for yea…
Comment linking /index.php/Startup_Equity_For_Employees
on “Uber plays hardball with early shareholders”Submitted Startup Equity For Employees as a story · 148 points
HN discussionIn case you don't know who Andy Payne is. (like me) http://www.payne.org/index.php/Payne.org_Wiki:About
Comment linking /index.php/Payne.org_Wiki:About
on “Letter to Carmen Ortiz about Aaron Swartz”Submitted Startup Equity For Employees as a story · 44 points
HN discussionHere's a good one for employees: http://www.payne.org/index.php/Startup_Equity_For_Employees Founders should just ensure they make an 83b election within 30 days of purchasing their stock (usually the purchase price for a founder is very close to zero, so this is all just a matter of paperwork).
Comment linking /index.php/Startup_Equity_For_Employees
on “"Kulveer Taggar says he expected to wait a little longer before becoming a millionaire."”Submitted How to Run a Startup Board Meeting as a story · 28 points
HN discussionRepost of a link that was on HN before that answers this question. I liked it so much that I bookmarked the submission. http://www.payne.org/index.php/Startup_Equity_For_Employees
Comment linking /index.php/Startup_Equity_For_Employees
on “Ask HN: Should I be told a startup's present valuation when given stock options?”Submitted Andrew Payne Wiki: Startup Equity For Employees as a story · 5 points
HN discussionWhere do you need help? - Valuing stock options? ( http://www.payne.org/index.php/Startup_Equity_For_Employees ) - Negotiating compensation? ( http://www.amazon.com/Negotiating-Your-Salary-Make-Minute/dp... ) - Establishing a benchmark? (check AngelList) What are the stock options worth? If you have not tried to value them, then that's step 1. If you haven't done any research into how to think about valuing stock op…
Comment linking /index.php/Startup_Equity_For_Employees
on “Ask HN: How to properly negotiate employee equity”Submitted SMS for Hobbyist Projects as a story · 1 points
HN discussion1. Agreed with tptacek. 1% is within the "standard" range of equity from what I've heard in SV. But that range is highly variable: 1-5%, but even 0.1-10% might be justified. But we have nowhere near enough information to judge whether that kind of an offer is a good offer for your specific, individualized case. Some questions to consider: What kind of salary are you making? What salary could you make at a BigCorp? W…
Comment linking /index.php/Startup_Equity_For_Employees
on “Ask HN: 1% equity vested over 4 years, is it okay for first employee?”Submitted The Myth of the Myth of the 10x Programmer (2020) as a story · 1 points
HN discussionI don't know the answer to this question, but here's a link that I've found to be helpful in answering questions like this: http://www.payne.org/index.php/Startup_Equity_For_Employees
Comment linking /index.php/Startup_Equity_For_Employees
on “Is sweat equity worth less than cash?”Submitted Big Tech’s Competitor? Government as a story · 1 points
HN discussionIf all of these co-founders were vesting over years this person could be booted without walking away with an unfair amount of equity. http://www.payne.org/index.php/Startup_Equity_For_Employees#...
Comment linking /index.php/Startup_Equity_For_Employees
on “Letting go of CoFounders”Where do you need help? - Valuing stock options or shares in a private company? ( http://www.payne.org/index.php/Startup_Equity_For_Employees ) - Negotiating compensation? ( http://www.amazon.com/Negotiating-Your-Salary-Make-Minute/dp... ) - Establishing a benchmark? (check AngelList) Similar questions are asked every few months on HN. Search hn.algolia.com to see answers provided by others. A few of them are worth…
Comment linking /index.php/Startup_Equity_For_Employees
on “Ask HN: Considering a job offer at a “unicorn.” What should I know about equity?”A friend of mine was in the same situation, and I compiled some articles for him. His situation had to do with negotiating equity, so keep that in mind. Here they are: http://mba-mondays.pandamian.com/tableofcontents/ Read from "Employee Equity" through "Employee Equity: How Much?" Also: http://www.payne.org/index.php/Startup_Equity_For_Employees An interesting perspective on on mathematical model of calculating how…
Comment linking /index.php/Startup_Equity_For_Employees
on “Ask HN: Resources on startup questions/advice about equity?”
