3bproblem

Stripe does this, and Coinbase's move to annual equity grants also has a similar effect. There are a lot of tradeoffs in all directions, but the fundamental one is that the reduction in risk naturally carries an equivalent reduction in ability to participate on the upside (eg table at the bottom here: https://www.aeqium.com/post/a-survey-of-equity-refresh-progr...).

You can also argue that it's not good for employees, because downside is capped (stock goes to $0, you keep your salary) but upside is unlimited (Shopify becomes the next Microsoft, you're still driving a Kia).

If anyone ever learns how to actually stop comparing themselves to others I'd love to hear it. Many of the most well-adjusted, pleasant people that I know still compare themselves to others naturally, it feels like a subconscious behavior almost at the level of breathing or getting hungry. (I liked the article though)

This game was fun enough that I could see there being some real money to be made here if you play it right, good luck!

https://www.nytimes.com/2022/01/31/business/media/new-york-t...

I'd love to see a culture of pentest results being more standardized and widely published for apps to help inform consumers.

I hear you, although for better or worse teams somewhat need to manage to their employees' expectations and perceptions as well as the statistics on startup survival and liquidity. There's also a wide spectrum for the probability of a profitable liquidity event based upon scale, market, stability, etc...

Yeah I'm with you. A lot of companies are unfortunately going to have a very rough time going forward.

This issue impacts both private and public companies, although indeed my comment did reference a private company scenario. However, you could just as easily replace that language with something like "with RSUs granted last summer" or similar. The issue is going to impact anyone who has a major equity grant set during prior_market_conditions who is now vesting that equity during current_very_different_market_conditions.

Also as you called out the problem is largely worse for private companies.

Yup and that's your prerogative, but practically speaking there are many people in the market who do put the expected value of their equity above $0, and they're going to present a retention risk if their total compensation inclusive of equity gets too low. Fwiw this problem exists for public companies too.

This is exactly right. In some situations it's a matter of practicality not morality. Anyone compensated in equity in large part needs to be willing to accept some share price volatility, but at a certain point people are going to leave and the company has to be proactive about that.