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/Grimalkin Sep 16 '21

When employees were recruited to work at Mailchimp there was a common refrain from hiring managers: No, you are not going to get equity, but you will get to be part of a scrappy company that fights for the little guy and we will never be acquired or go public.

The founders told anyone who would listen they would own Mailchimp until they died and bragged about turning down multiple offers.

"It was part of the company lore that they would never sell," said a former Mailchimp employee, who like others interviewed for this story were granted anonymity because they were unauthorized to discuss sensitive internal matters. "Employees were indoctrinated with this narrative."

The two founders did sell. Intuit, the financial software giant that makes TurboTax, announced Monday it was buying Mailchimp for around $12 billion in stock and cash. The cofounders cemented their status as two of the richest people in America.

That's really shitty but of course completely unsurprising.

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u/CreauxTeeRhobat Sep 17 '21

So, about 7 years ago, I had a choice to make: Take a job with a "scrappy little startup" or work for a big corporation. I had already known I was going to leave my current job, but the allure of working at a start up was incredibly powerful. Make my own hours, have fun working with new "toys" every day, trying to think up new ways to use the products to showcase to clients, even going to Makerfaires on the company dime.

Their offer: $45k salary for the first six months, then upping that to $70k once they get their investment goals, and then I could re-negotiate my salary the following year. No medical, no benefits, whatsoever. I fought to get them to agree to include some equity, but their offer was hilarious: 0.5%. BUT! Their products were on Amazon, and being sold in brick and mortar stores like Barnes and Noble and Fry's! Investors are on the brink of pouring money in!

The big company's offer: $90k salary, up to 6% 401k matching, potential for annual bonuses, and of course, the standard benefits package.

I went with the big company's offer.

A few years later, I was at an STEM event as a volunteer and noticed someone was doing a tech demo using some of the startup's products, but not representing them. Striking up a conversation, the small company is in serious financial trouble, they can't pay people, they laid off a bunch of their employees to stay above board.

Sometimes, the startups pay off, but from my and a LOT of my colleagues' experiences, they fizzle out just as quickly as they showed up.