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Subject:Re: How many worthless stock options do yo From:"Dick Margulis " <margulis -at- mail -dot- fiam -dot- net> To:"TECHWR-L" <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com> Date:Sat, 22 Sep 2001 21:00:37 -0400
Bruce Byfield wrote:
>
>Personally, I vastly prefer the old style companies in which options are
>given simply as a minor benefit with no forced talk of "empowerment" and
>phony benevolence - the approach is at least honest.
>
There's another model that works. I joined a startup early on. I get paid what I'm worth (most days), as does everyone else at the company. Options were offered as an acknowledgment of and compensation for the risk we took in joining a startup. That is, they were not in lieu of salary but rather in addition to it. As the company expanded, later employees were seen by the company to be taking less of a personal risk (as the company was at least a few feet off the ground) and were offered a less valuable option package. I don't think of the options as a minor benefit, but I do think the approach is honest. For one thing, when we have periodic company meetings, the boss knows he is talking to owners (or at least potential owners, albeit with a lot fewer shares than he has); so he lays out the numbers for us--both good news and bad news--and takes hard questions from the floor. I'm not sure that would be the case if we didn't have the options.
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