[LRUG] Equity/Stock/Share Options: Survey

Mon Aug 4 05:52:07 PDT 2014

Absolutely, that's the plan :)

On 4 August 2014 13:46, Najaf Ali <ali at happybearsoftware.com> wrote:

> Please blog about this when you're done! I'm very much an equity skeptic
> but would be interested to see your findings all the same.
>
> Cheers,
>
> -Ali
>
>
> On Mon, Aug 4, 2014 at 11:59 AM, Sam Phillips <sam at samsworldofno.com>
> wrote:
>
>> Hi Louis,
>>
>> Thanks for that - as I mentioned, the motivations aren't my core focus at
>> this point so I'm keen not to start that debate :)
>>
>> Others - survey is still open. I've had about 50 responses so far which
>> is good and means some meaningful conclusions may be possible... so now,
>> more data will be more helpful :)
>>
>> https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/MFFGZSH
>>
>> Cheers,
>>
>> Sam
>>
>>
>> On 4 August 2014 11:45, Louis Goff-Beardsley <louis at infinitiumglobal.com>
>> wrote:
>>
>>>  Hi Sam,
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> My experience with companies offering equity etc in companies as part of
>>> a package are as follows:
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> ·         Regularly get companies asking me I can market mid & senior
>>> developer positions with a below market rate salaries but with significant
>>> equity. Usually its companies at a fairly early stage that are interested
>>> in this sort of proposition. Rarely do these roles get filled with this
>>> sort of package. Reasons for this are:
>>>
>>> o   The £10k-30k that developers would lose essentially would result in
>>> a significant drop in immediate lifestyle.
>>>
>>> o   The chance of a payoff with the equity being worth something is
>>> pretty risky, with more tech start-ups failing than succeeding.
>>>
>>> o   Most Upper-mid and above developers will usually have picked-up
>>> various bits of equity from all over the place throughout their career,
>>> often can be jaded about its value. Only a few times I’ve met developers
>>> who took equity and it paid off.
>>>
>>> §  That being said I’ve met a few developers where its paid off and
>>> they’ve used that money to bankroll their own projects.
>>>
>>> ·         When a company is offering market Salary rates + equity as
>>> part of total package it’s a lot more easy to market them. Often it can be
>>> the deciding factor when candidates are choosing between roles.
>>>
>>> o   Obviously people are more included to stay with the company longer
>>> due to the Vesting/Cliff structure.
>>>
>>> o   Good way of getting employees to care about and feel invested in
>>> the success of the business.
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> To summarise:  Most people wouldn’t like to spend a significant portion
>>> of my wages on scratch cards, but would be attracted to them if given on
>>> top of a regular salary.
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> Best, Louis.
>>>
>>>  -
>>> * Louis Goff-Beardsley*
>>>
>>> *Ultra-specialised Independent Ruby Recruìtment*
>>> https://www.linkedin.com/in/louisbeardsley
>>>
>>> *"I just can’t stop thinking about Ruby on Rails"*
>>>
>>> *Mobile:* 07449 324 851 *BBS:* 0118 327 1821
>>>
>>> *Skype/Googletalk*: LouisGB1/LouisRoR at gmail.com
>>>
>>> @LouisRoR <https://twitter.com/LouisRoR>
>>>
>>> irc.freenode.org - LouisRoR - #Ruby #LRUG #NWRUG #Pokemonchat
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> *From:* Chat [mailto:chat-bounces at lists.lrug.org] *On Behalf Of *Sam
>>> Phillips
>>> *Sent:* 02 August 2014 12:01
>>> *To:* London Ruby Users Group
>>> *Subject:* [LRUG] Equity/Stock/Share Options: Survey
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> Hi LRUG,
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> I've had a few anecdotal conversations about equity (option) schemes
>>> over the past few years and the way that they work in practice with real
>>> people in real companies where relationships are sometimes complex.
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> I'm not so much thinking about whether or not these schemes are a good
>>> idea or worth sacrificing salary for.
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> I'm hoping to come up with a more definitive view on what's going on so
>>> have put together a simple survey. If you are part of a company option
>>> scheme, or have been in the past, and could spend 2 minutes (it's 10 quick
>>> questions) on it, that would awesome.
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/MFFGZSH
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> My motivation is to see if there are are trends in the way things are
>>> happening and to allow us to share our experiences. My (broad) hypothesis
>>> is that implementation of these schemes in practice is inconsistent across
>>> companies. My detailed hypothesis I'll reveal when I have some data :)
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> I'll be sharing anonymised raw data (providing I actually get some, and
>>> participants agree), and will hopefully be able to break this down with
>>> some basic analysis too.
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> As a few of you know, I'm not a statistician, so this is not very
>>> scientific! Any feedback on how to better collect this sort of data is
>>> happily received although I'll probably not want to change the questions
>>> half way through the sample period (again, you can tell me different if I'm
>>> wrong!).
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> My aim right now is simply to get more data, learn more about what's
>>> going on, and to maybe start an open conversation on the topic.
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> If you could take two minutes, that would be ace. Thank you so much!
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> Sam
>>>
>>
>>
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