Re:Startup Employees Invoke Obscure Law to Open Up Books
by caminante on Tuesday May 24, 2016 @04:59PM
(#11765427)
There's definitely tension. That said, I'll go further than the usual startup qualifiers (e.g. You SHOULD™ be aware of the risks.)
Getting accurate financials is tough even when a company isn't cooking the books, let alone when a company is misleading investors. Here's an extreme: "Over-transparency" didn't help Enron's employees.[1] All of the information was there, but people refused to believe it. For startups, it's hard to remain disciplined and realistic about hype from an internal perspective.
Meanwhile, I'm sympathetic to keeping information privileged within private companies.
Getting accurate financials is tough even when a company isn't cooking the books, let alone when a company is misleading investors. Here's an extreme: "Over-transparency" didn't help Enron's employees.[1] All of the information was there, but people refused to believe it. For startups, it's hard to remain disciplined and realistic about hype from an internal perspective.
Meanwhile, I'm sympathetic to keeping information privileged within private companies.
[1]http://www.slate.com/articles/business/moneybox/2001/10/enro...