This series of articles has covered a lot of ground, but this particular article touches on a critical component that we have not really discussed. When equity first began to be used in Silicon Valley, prior to the boom of the late-1980’s, the goal was getting senior players to have some skin in the game....
It is readily accepted that an IPO is Nirvana to a startup. Of course, a fantabulous acquisition will also work in a pinch. Most startups design their equity plans around one or both of these possibilities. The events increasingly trigger vesting events, earn-out periods, house purchases and early retirements. But, what if you want to...
“But, how do I make sure that the person is a great performer before I am forced to give them equity?” This question gets asked by nearly every Founder, Investor or Compensation Committee Member very early in the development of an equity compensation plan. Sometimes it is expressed more genuinely as, “I don’t want to...
During a recent presentation I did for industry professionals, an attendee claimed that his employees didn’t need additional education on their equity compensation because they worked in tech and “already understood” these plans. I pointed out that he was mistaken. I stated that most, and perhaps nearly all, employees misunderstand, or do not even try...
Does this familiar? You had a great idea and turned it into a company. Somehow you got to the point where Venture Capitalists were willing to invest. You may have had less than 50 employees and less than 15% of the company committed to non-founder employees. You grew and kept innovating. Equity compensation was the...
2006. I had resisted the move to social media. It seemed frivolous, even though I love new things. Then I received an invite from a colleague in New York City who I respected. He thought I would love some site called “LinkedIn”. Out of a combination of politeness and curiosity I signed up. It was...
We have all seen the headlines, “XYZ receives $100M in funding at a $3B valuation.” We seldom see the “other” valuation showing the same company is worth $350M. For publicly-traded companies, value is determined by investors working as a group in a real-time market. They are generally purchasing the same kind of stock. Values are...
Figuring out the right amount of equity compensation at startups is a challenge. How much should I grant? How big should the grant be? How should I size the grant relative to base pay? Investors, boards, executives, HR and compensation departments at start-ups have conflicts over these questions all the time. In the past I...
You build it. You buy it. This may become the new mantra on Broadway. The original cast of Hamilton was recently followed by the new cast of Disney’s Frozen in receiving a share of the success of the shows they helped create. Similar to a great tech company building towards an IPO, a Broadway company...
Well, so much for the warm-hearted caffeinated, pick-me-up from the Comp Café. Today is a steaming jolt of quadruple espresso in response to the Wells Fargo incentive pay mess. Let me start with the fact that I have been interviewed a few times about this story and even I was surprised by my response to...
