Make certain that whomever is your starting CEO is ready for the responsibility (raising money, forging alliances). Even more important, make certain that they are ready to step down when the company needs someone experienced in that role.
And make sure that the "troops" understand this also, not just the CEO. There will come a time when either the company has grown or lean times have struck and the VCs (or others with an interest) will want to replace the CEO. Suddenly, you may have someone from outside the company running the show. This can be a morale killer if there is a lot of loyalty to the former CEO who is now "Executive VP of Biz Development" or "Chief Technical Officer".
This happened in one startup I was in and it was difficult to deal with a new guy who didn't have a clue about the culture (or much else as it turns out).
If you don't, wouldn't Cold Fusion be the easiest embedded HTML language to use? Consider that Allaire is close to release CF for Linux.
I used Cold Fusion for years on the unmentionable operating system and it is easy to pick up and use. Unfortunately, it lacks the ability to easily encapsulate and abstract and encourages the use of global data; complex applications can quickly become festering pits of misery.
The perceived simplicity of the "language" also encourages people with poor programming skills to use it for everything. I once met a guy who wrote 2000 lines of Cold Fusion to parse text files. I was horrified. One of the other developers rewrote the code in about 100 lines of Perl.
Honestly, I never want to go back to writing Cold Fusion. While it is similar to Perl in that you can write quick and dirty web apps with it, Perl has the ability to let you go beyond the quick and dirty.
I think the lack of browser innovation is due to the browser being viewed more as a utility application than as a "killer app" - which is how it began life. The original web browsers were highly proprietary and considered to be profit centers (I'm thinking Netscape here and many others that fell by the wayside). When it became obvious the money was elsewhere the browser was "freed" - and innovation (extensions, de facto standards, etc) stopped. This "innovation" stopped not because the browser was made free (beer, speech in some cases) but because there was no money in it.
The "freeing" of the browser has resulted in everyone running to the same destination and realizing that it's just a tool. Other than adding support for the most current standards, how much innovation does one need in a browser? In fact, I think I'd prefer less innovation in browsers; I'd like them to all render HTML in the same way, at least.
Will the same thing happen to operating systems? Maybe. However the free operating systems we all know and love were not dreamed up as "killer apps" that would be profit centers. They were created with the expectation that they would be useful to their users. This is what drives true innovation in the free software movement, I think.
If Linux, *BSD, BeOS and NT all ultimately end up undifferentiated, there will always be someone who wants to do something useful not supported by these crusty old OSes and will start their own initiative.
Of course, I could be wrong. Maybe we should all just give up and preorder Win2K.
they have raised the option of taking shares instead of salary (or at least a portion of it).
I don't recommend this. I did it in my first startup and ended up a bit out in the cold - especially when the company failed. I do have about 40K shares worth of wallpaper though.
In the second job in which shares were offered, I negotiated a good salary with a decent amount of shares on top of that. I think of options as being worth $0 - they are not compensation for anything, they are incentive for me to stay through the vesting period.
I'm now in my third startup with options and I took the same approach this time - options are just icing on the cake if we build a successful business.
I know most people in this industry are more interested in the work than the money, but you have to be smart about the money too.
1.How long did you have to keep them ?
In all of my situations it's been a four year vesting period. The vesting increments over the course of those four years. It's not uncommon that they would vest 1/48th per month over that period. Sometimes you'll find a "one year cliff" in which nothing vests for the first year but at one year you magically vest 1/4 of your options and then 1/48th of the total options per month after that. I heard of one place that vested 1/4 per year rather than incrementally per month.
Also, be aware that if your company completes an IPO you will probably be subject to a lockout period of from 6 months to a year. The guys at VA Linux weren't able to get in on those high prices initially - they are still holding theirs.
It depends on your agreement, but there is often a clause stating that the options vest immediately in the case of the company being acquired.
2.What was the increase (or decrease) in value ?
First Time: $0 Second Time: ~$4 per share Third Time: Still waiting on that one
3.Do you think it's a good idea ?
Of course, but I've been through about 4 companies in the last six years, so I don't know if I'd listen to me if I were you.
4.What are the "gotchas" ?
Taxes. Spend a lot of time at the Motley Fool messages boards dealing with employer granted stock options and take a look at this www.fairmark.com site. There is a lot of information here.
There are different types of options, so be aware that different laws apply differently to them.
Stress. As a shareholder, you get to be stressed when the company is on the ropes. Of course, there's the flipside. However, have you looked at the success rate figures for startups?
Slashdot Mirror
Simple licensing. Please, is the submitter really so stupid he/she doesn't understand this? And the editor just passes it through?
The real story is that iTunes isn't geofiltering IPs apparently.
He knew how to handle time frames, important (and not-so-important) crises, difficult workers, and how to prioritize.
Hmmm, sounds like a methodology.
There is this one:
"thinking outside the box."
people want ownership of the music itself
Why? It's just a piece of media.
If a subscription service gives you all the music you want wherever you want it, why do you want to posses a chunk of plastic?
I, for one, welcome our new elephant Cloudlords.
Make certain that whomever is your starting CEO is ready for the responsibility (raising money, forging alliances). Even more important, make certain that they are ready to step down when the company needs someone experienced in that role.
And make sure that the "troops" understand this also, not just the CEO. There will come a time when either the company has grown or lean times have struck and the VCs (or others with an interest) will want to replace the CEO. Suddenly, you may have someone from outside the company running the show. This can be a morale killer if there is a lot of loyalty to the former CEO who is now "Executive VP of Biz Development" or "Chief Technical Officer".
This happened in one startup I was in and it was difficult to deal with a new guy who didn't have a clue about the culture (or much else as it turns out).
Troy Denkinger
I used Cold Fusion for years on the unmentionable operating system and it is easy to pick up and use. Unfortunately, it lacks the ability to easily encapsulate and abstract and encourages the use of global data; complex applications can quickly become festering pits of misery.
The perceived simplicity of the "language" also encourages people with poor programming skills to use it for everything. I once met a guy who wrote 2000 lines of Cold Fusion to parse text files. I was horrified. One of the other developers rewrote the code in about 100 lines of Perl.
Honestly, I never want to go back to writing Cold Fusion. While it is similar to Perl in that you can write quick and dirty web apps with it, Perl has the ability to let you go beyond the quick and dirty.
Troy Denkinger
The "freeing" of the browser has resulted in everyone running to the same destination and realizing that it's just a tool. Other than adding support for the most current standards, how much innovation does one need in a browser? In fact, I think I'd prefer less innovation in browsers; I'd like them to all render HTML in the same way, at least.
Will the same thing happen to operating systems? Maybe. However the free operating systems we all know and love were not dreamed up as "killer apps" that would be profit centers. They were created with the expectation that they would be useful to their users. This is what drives true innovation in the free software movement, I think.
If Linux, *BSD, BeOS and NT all ultimately end up undifferentiated, there will always be someone who wants to do something useful not supported by these crusty old OSes and will start their own initiative.
Of course, I could be wrong. Maybe we should all just give up and preorder Win2K.
Troy Denkinger
I don't recommend this. I did it in my first startup and ended up a bit out in the cold - especially when the company failed. I do have about 40K shares worth of wallpaper though.
In the second job in which shares were offered, I negotiated a good salary with a decent amount of shares on top of that. I think of options as being worth $0 - they are not compensation for anything, they are incentive for me to stay through the vesting period.
I'm now in my third startup with options and I took the same approach this time - options are just icing on the cake if we build a successful business.
I know most people in this industry are more interested in the work than the money, but you have to be smart about the money too.
1.How long did you have to keep them ?
In all of my situations it's been a four year vesting period. The vesting increments over the course of those four years. It's not uncommon that they would vest 1/48th per month over that period. Sometimes you'll find a "one year cliff" in which nothing vests for the first year but at one year you magically vest 1/4 of your options and then 1/48th of the total options per month after that. I heard of one place that vested 1/4 per year rather than incrementally per month.
Also, be aware that if your company completes an IPO you will probably be subject to a lockout period of from 6 months to a year. The guys at VA Linux weren't able to get in on those high prices initially - they are still holding theirs.
It depends on your agreement, but there is often a clause stating that the options vest immediately in the case of the company being acquired.
2.What was the increase (or decrease) in value ?
First Time: $0
Second Time: ~$4 per share
Third Time: Still waiting on that one
3.Do you think it's a good idea ?
Of course, but I've been through about 4 companies in the last six years, so I don't know if I'd listen to me if I were you.
4.What are the "gotchas" ?
Taxes. Spend a lot of time at the Motley Fool messages boards dealing with employer granted stock options and take a look at this www.fairmark.com site. There is a lot of information here.
There are different types of options, so be aware that different laws apply differently to them.
Stress. As a shareholder, you get to be stressed when the company is on the ropes. Of course, there's the flipside. However, have you looked at the success rate figures for startups?
Good luck.
Troy Denkinger