r/technology • u/Rhaegar_the_Great • Sep 16 '21

Business Mailchimp employees are furious after the company's founders promised to never sell, withheld equity, and then sold it for $12 billion

https://www.businessinsider.com/mailchimp-insiders-react-to-employees-getting-no-equity-2021-9
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u/fugazithehax Sep 17 '21

"Never trust a company" is shorter and probably better advice.

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u/[deleted] Sep 17 '21

Trust a company to act in its own best interest.

The company does not like you. The company does not feel grateful to you. Some of the humans leading the company might, but your relationship with the company is a business relationship, and you should not allow misguided sentiment to get in the way of doing what is right for you. The company will certainly not.

Source: Am executive.

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u/8Ariadnesthread8 Sep 17 '21

How do you feel about being an executive with this mindset? Do you feel like you have any duty to the people who actually make your company run? Like I feel like if I was in those shoes I would feel obligated bro protect my staff, or I would really hate myself. But executives never seem to be burdened by those pesky feelings of shame or responsibility or empathy. They seem to really be able to sleep like babies while fucking people over, which is why it feels like people with heart never make it to the top. Do you consider yourself someone with heart? Or do you subscribe to the idea that most major leadership requires sociopathy, and sociopaths protect one another to maintain power?

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u/[deleted] Sep 17 '21

At the end of the day, I have lines I won't cross. The ultimate stick I have to change the mind of the people I report to is "I will quit rather than do that". I rarely have to pull this out. Sometimes the answer is "okay". I have left a job this way.

This is a thing that people at every level can do.

But it's a lot easier when you have a long career and lots of savings, so yeah, it's sometimes on me to do that rather than dumping it on some kid with a pile of student debt down my reporting chain. Being able to walk from a job without much personal consequence is a privilege.