So we’re going to be continuing a long negotiation with my business partner. We’ve been going at this for quite some time and I’ve came to the conclusion that my ownership stake is not sufficient, nor serving me at this time. I’ve been working here since 2019 and have built essentially all the technology to date and been through many hires and fires.
I’ve more or less been the ride or die, carrying the team regardless of all scenarios and am the original employee. I’ve received 7% equity compensation which was off paper for nearly 4-5 years due to the fact that I had a criminal record. As well, with our original conversations, our comany was valued at $5MM pre-money SAFE. For all extensive purposes, the thought that it would be 7% of $5MM which equates to roughly $300K over 5 years.
This equates to $60k additional compensation. My base pay was $70k, so effectively I may have been considered to have been paid $130k. That being said, prior to joining the company I was being paid $170k across both companies.
Recently we’ve made many changes to the company which I don’t agree with and about 1 year ago, we made a hire to be paid $150k, and he was meant to be my “equal”. Essentially I was demoted without my thought.
As of February 22, my contributions in code are nearly 4026x his, and as such my gross compensation adjusted for what his compensation is, notwithstanding the fact that he has been hired to run the team and is also a prick, should be in the realm of $107MM.
Besides this my losses for the last x years can be thought as $50k/annum * 5 years = $250k which is approximately leads us to 15%. Therefore my compensation to date has been completely shit.
I’ll finish this blog post the correspondence that I intend to send him in response to his question clarifying, “What is is that I do want”. I am prepared to leave this partnership in the case that things don’t work out.
I ultimately want to dedicate my efforts to something that allows me to see the value of my work increase with time – monetarily and socially, and I think it should proportional to the effort that was employed.
The appeal of entrepreneurship is not to create a 9-5 job. instead it is to accomplish the following:
- Realize ones full potential
- Lead a fulfilling life where seeking opportunities – that do not come at the expense of others – is unhindered, and are left open for exploration
- To find groups of individuals who wish to make impactful solutions, and who also want to make it easier to accomplish and fullfill each other’s dreams
- Financial freedom
- Freedom of thought, expression and ideation
- Creation of impactful solutions
- Helping in the curation and development of exceptional individuals
Recent changes have made it difficult to reconcile my desires with our current operations. With regards to growth proportional to efforts I have done my utmost to ensure the success of the company over 5 years; I believe you yourself stated that stakeholders were impressed with the amount that was achieved with such a small team.
As of late, we’ve enabled a culture of stagnation in engineering. The ethos being projected is, “by being conventional we can somehow achieve unconventional results”. My thoughts are it takes significant activation energy to create something of incremental value. We’ve been building this activation energy for years, and I am seeing it slow down. Breaking beyond this, and creating incremental sustained value does not come at the hands of doing what every other company is doing and instead takes ingenuity, perseverance and creativity.
We recently welcomed new leadership into the company, and I was asked about my aspirations within the organization and where I would like to be. I’ve realized that I never aspired to simply fill a 9-5 role. Despite being a foundational member and having demonstrated five years of loyalty and leadership, I find myself questioning why I am expected to relinquish my departmental head role, while others are appointed as heads of theirs. This coincides with my concerns regarding security where I am looking for confirmation that this is an organization which fits with the 6 points of why I enjoy creating listed above.
Over time, I have come to realize that the new leadership lacks depth and authenticity. As of February 22, 2024, my productivity is approximately 4026 times greater than theirs, which, by comparable standards, would justify an annual compensation of $107 million. More importantly however, their leadership style has negatively impacted the team’s performance. I’ve observed that their knowledge is superficial, and often sidelines initiatives, possibly out of a need to assert their own competence and/or their lack of ability to weigh cost-benefit effectively; Of which both of which are not acceptable.
Besides this, I think it’s important to note that even with equity compensation to date, I have been accruing a -$40k/year deficit in consideration to my compensation prior to joining the company which was $170k.
I believe that reinvigorating our company’s culture and operational ethos will require substantial collaborative effort and possibly some changes in leadership strategy. My wish is for the company to show it’s dedication and commitment to myself and my values. I believe that a 20% equity share, would reflect a fair alignment of my efforts with the company’s long-term success.
I remain committed in entirety to the company and hope we will be able to find something that meets both of our needs and desires. I’m ultimately grateful for the experience that we’ve had thus far and hope we can find a resolution that allows us to continue our partnership together.
