"We treat this entire idea purely as a bonus in the unlikely even of a future sale/IPO." At far too many companies, equity is seen by the employer and employee as a form of cash-equivalent compensation, even though it…
Funny. Buffett certainly didn't mind a little coddling in 2008. He was arguably one of the largest individual beneficiaries of bailouts which shifted ungodly amounts of toxic debt from failed private institutions to…
"BART, which has its own police force, must be held to constitutional standards." This sounds nice, but do you actually know what those Constitutional standards are? First, as you seem to recognize, the area in which…
I think you miss the entire point of my comment. I am not suggesting that companies describe equity stakes in percentage or "you would make $x" terms (they can do neither), or that they provide anti-dilution protection…
Dead on. The problem with equity is that at most venture backed companies, rank and file employees don't know what percentage of the company their equity package represents, or could represent in the future. Naive…
Under premises liability law, a tenant is generally responsible for personal injuries to guests, invitees and others (who are legally on the premises) if the tenant had control of the premises or was responsible for…
AirBnB's guarantee doesn't affect this at all. Here's an example: You rent an apartment and have a standard lease that forbids subletting. You travel a lot on business and decide to rent out your apartment for…
AirBnB's fundamental flaw is that the potential costs (in the form of monetary losses) of renting out a home to a stranger far exceed the economic benefits that can ever be realized, particularly for hosts who are…
"Offer me a decent salary" should be on the top of this list. If you have a solid, established relationship with somebody technical, and he or she is interested in a startup endeavor, raising the possibility of going…
I think you missed the poster's obvious sarcasm. As for "China's economy has plenty of growth left in it": the issue is not the amount of growth, but the source and quality of the growth.
In China, "private industry" doesn't truly exist in many industries. To do business, you need to be politically connected to some degree. In other words, campaign contributions are unnecessary; the state and private…
Bingo. It's truly amazing that after all the world has seen in the past several years, many fail to recognize a house of cards when they see one.
The problem is not the former professions of the bureaucrats, but rather the fact that individuals can write the words "my money's on the government" truly believing them.
The challenge for the Chinese leadership is not how to keep the Chinese people under a Communist regime, but how to keep them well fed (literally and figuratively). The game of politics is far more forgiving than the…
The author has a point, and it's quite possible his idea wasn't worth pursuing further. This said, a few points should be made: 1. A picture is worth a thousand words. It shouldn't be assumed that individuals you poll…
"If you’ve already identified that your goal is not to work for soulless companies, you need to start working for startups." This is a false choice. It assumes that most established companies have no "soul", but that…
1. You do not need a "CTO"; you need a solid web developer. They are not the same thing. 2. While I think many posters here have focused too much on the the job-posting-as-dating-profile approach, the reality is that…
Everybody should give the people behind Mt. Gox a break. These guys make real banks look good - no small feat!
You don't earn a technical co-founder any more than you earn your first secretary. Every person who is recruited to join a business must be convinced that he or she is going to get something out of the deal. The problem…
1. Involving your friend in your wife's employment is a huge no-no. It only makes you more dependent on him, and he certainly knows this. If he places your wife in a job, don't be surprised to see him leveraging this in…
What everyone should keep in mind here is that, at its core, OnSwipe is trying to be an ad network. See http://thenextweb.com/media/2011/06/21/an-inside-look-at-ons.... Also see…
Frankly, I think you're looking at this the wrong way. From your description, your wealthy friend: 1. Came up with an idea that he would like to pursue. 2. Has the money to finance the venture. 3. Is willing to…
First, you seem to confuse "rate of return", "inflation rates", and "interest rate." They are not the same thing, yet you conflate them. But let's roll with it. You still make a number of flawed assumptions: 1. That all…
* Everybody else on your team is an engineer or developer. Obviously, this doesn't mean you can't be successful (I know, I know - look at Google), but you should consider the possibility that you're probably missing…
When the central banks pump money into economies, it has a cascading effect that influences the behavior of investors directly and indirectly. Take a wealthy individual who is a limited partner in several VC funds. Like…
"We treat this entire idea purely as a bonus in the unlikely even of a future sale/IPO." At far too many companies, equity is seen by the employer and employee as a form of cash-equivalent compensation, even though it…
Funny. Buffett certainly didn't mind a little coddling in 2008. He was arguably one of the largest individual beneficiaries of bailouts which shifted ungodly amounts of toxic debt from failed private institutions to…
"BART, which has its own police force, must be held to constitutional standards." This sounds nice, but do you actually know what those Constitutional standards are? First, as you seem to recognize, the area in which…
I think you miss the entire point of my comment. I am not suggesting that companies describe equity stakes in percentage or "you would make $x" terms (they can do neither), or that they provide anti-dilution protection…
Dead on. The problem with equity is that at most venture backed companies, rank and file employees don't know what percentage of the company their equity package represents, or could represent in the future. Naive…
Under premises liability law, a tenant is generally responsible for personal injuries to guests, invitees and others (who are legally on the premises) if the tenant had control of the premises or was responsible for…
AirBnB's guarantee doesn't affect this at all. Here's an example: You rent an apartment and have a standard lease that forbids subletting. You travel a lot on business and decide to rent out your apartment for…
AirBnB's fundamental flaw is that the potential costs (in the form of monetary losses) of renting out a home to a stranger far exceed the economic benefits that can ever be realized, particularly for hosts who are…
"Offer me a decent salary" should be on the top of this list. If you have a solid, established relationship with somebody technical, and he or she is interested in a startup endeavor, raising the possibility of going…
I think you missed the poster's obvious sarcasm. As for "China's economy has plenty of growth left in it": the issue is not the amount of growth, but the source and quality of the growth.
In China, "private industry" doesn't truly exist in many industries. To do business, you need to be politically connected to some degree. In other words, campaign contributions are unnecessary; the state and private…
Bingo. It's truly amazing that after all the world has seen in the past several years, many fail to recognize a house of cards when they see one.
The problem is not the former professions of the bureaucrats, but rather the fact that individuals can write the words "my money's on the government" truly believing them.
The challenge for the Chinese leadership is not how to keep the Chinese people under a Communist regime, but how to keep them well fed (literally and figuratively). The game of politics is far more forgiving than the…
The author has a point, and it's quite possible his idea wasn't worth pursuing further. This said, a few points should be made: 1. A picture is worth a thousand words. It shouldn't be assumed that individuals you poll…
"If you’ve already identified that your goal is not to work for soulless companies, you need to start working for startups." This is a false choice. It assumes that most established companies have no "soul", but that…
1. You do not need a "CTO"; you need a solid web developer. They are not the same thing. 2. While I think many posters here have focused too much on the the job-posting-as-dating-profile approach, the reality is that…
Everybody should give the people behind Mt. Gox a break. These guys make real banks look good - no small feat!
You don't earn a technical co-founder any more than you earn your first secretary. Every person who is recruited to join a business must be convinced that he or she is going to get something out of the deal. The problem…
1. Involving your friend in your wife's employment is a huge no-no. It only makes you more dependent on him, and he certainly knows this. If he places your wife in a job, don't be surprised to see him leveraging this in…
What everyone should keep in mind here is that, at its core, OnSwipe is trying to be an ad network. See http://thenextweb.com/media/2011/06/21/an-inside-look-at-ons.... Also see…
Frankly, I think you're looking at this the wrong way. From your description, your wealthy friend: 1. Came up with an idea that he would like to pursue. 2. Has the money to finance the venture. 3. Is willing to…
First, you seem to confuse "rate of return", "inflation rates", and "interest rate." They are not the same thing, yet you conflate them. But let's roll with it. You still make a number of flawed assumptions: 1. That all…
* Everybody else on your team is an engineer or developer. Obviously, this doesn't mean you can't be successful (I know, I know - look at Google), but you should consider the possibility that you're probably missing…
When the central banks pump money into economies, it has a cascading effect that influences the behavior of investors directly and indirectly. Take a wealthy individual who is a limited partner in several VC funds. Like…