yes, my cousin was part of such a startup and he became a semi millionaire (12CR+) at a very young age 29, he was part of the founding team- operations head. 
  
 now he is retired (just timepass doing consultant and advisory), money handled by fund managers.

Business Development Manager

Did they have an exit event that was very large?

Software Developer

My friend got an exit from a startup he worked there only for 3 years. It was sold to Google he joined Google,  not sure how much money he made though

Curious if anyone made a lot of money from their startups getting sold here on grapevine  Has your life changed? What do u do now?

Welcome to Indian Startups's Private Community

Curious if anyone made a lot of money from their startups getting sold here on grapevine

Has your life changed? What do u do now?

Any people who were a part of a startup that got sold

Any people who were a part of a startup that got sold- Grapevine

What changed for you post acquisition and how did it change your lives

Context: worked at a small startup getting acquired soon by a publicly listed company

Anyone who worked at a startup then got acquired by a big company?

I was working in a startup, but I left only after a couple of years. 😅 That startup got acquired by a big company some years after I left.  
  
 My co-workers who stayed till the acquisition, their life changed in two ways at acquisition: 
  
 1. Each of them got USD $1 million cash in exchange for the e-sops / equity they owned  
  
 2. On acquisition, their salaries immediately got doubled by the acquiring company, in line with the company's salary bands 
  
 So there, that's how lives change on acquisition. 😄

Staff Engineer

Folks who got rich from startup ESOP money- 

1) which startup was it ?
2) what did it enable you to buy ?
3) how did your life change after it ?

Startup moolah

Welcome to Product Managers's Private Community

Hey everyone, excited to be doing this AMA!

A brief about me, I work currently as a Director of Product at an Indian unicorn startup 

About my career: 
- Did my undergrad from IIT and then masters from an Ivy league school
- Have been in product for almost 10 years now - across 2 Indian unicorn startups and a publicly listed company

Would love to take questions on what it means to be a PM, growing within the role, building your career, and other things :) 

Will be back here at 4 pm and start replying
Shoot away!

AMA 🎙️: Hey all, I am pmsprint, Director of Product Management at a Unicorn in India!

Product Manager

With the host of startups closing down, was curious to know what does founder net worth usually result in and how do they generally make money for them along the way. Few questions-

1. Do founder sell percentage of own shares in Series A and B raises? I would assume there would be some checks on this but want to know what's the practical reality of this and if this happens what's the amount a founder can make through this 


2. If the startup is clear it has to shut down, what typically happens? Acquisitions? Insolvency?


3. Assume a Series B  level startup with valuation around 150 cr with say 10 Cr annual revenue and 40 cr losses and 30% founder stake and it's clear it has to shut down. In the absence of any acquisition, what money comes to the founder

Founder wealth gains in failed startups

well placed to answer this.
We recently shut down.
we had raised about 4.8 mn USD and were operational for 3 years.
When we decided to shut down we had about 500k in the bank.
The primary reason was so that we could clear all our dues and liabilities well.
We paid 2.5-3 months of severance, laptops to our team.
Then we had to clear a lot of statutory payments, which were usually taken care of from the monthly cash flows.
Then we hired a high charging consulting firm to ensure proper due diligence of closure process so that there are no surprises later, whether it was around taxation, vendor payments or any contracts.
Then we hired a law firm for the closure process.
After all this, the company was left with about 150k USD on the books.
This money was paid out to us two founders as severance payout.
In the 3 years of operations the founders in general averaged at less than 25% of their market salary, which meant depletion of personal resources completely.
The severance amount received by each of us was as good as 60-80% of our market salary.
Net net, financially, less money earned from salary + severance than would have earned in 3 years of my market salary job.
Hope this helps :)

Founder

Management Consulting

Lately many of the startups faced valuation cuts. Baron Capital cut Swiggy by 40%, Blackrock and Pepsis cut Byju’s by 70%, SoftBank cut Oyo by 70%. Just to name a few. 

Everything about Byju’s is very much present here on grapevine. I’m curious to know about others, not limited to the ones named above. How’s your organization doing these days?

Probably, there is no VC-funded unicorn in India that is likely to stand the test of its private valuation in a public market

Where have all the startup hedgehogs gone?

Devalued startups. How are you doing?

Hey folks, recently have found myself on career crossroads. Not sure what kind of career paths generalists have after certain YoE. Are there some generalists on the platform with more than 6-7 YoE who can throw light on what kind of roles are available to generalists after a certain level? Ideally, would want to look at big tech cos.

Current profile: 5yrs post mba work ex in consulting + startups.

Generalists career path

Project Manager

I'm starting a new company and am assembling a team, in all my previous startups had like 7 people working but now everyone is settled and few have retired coz made too much from the exits so back to assembling a new team :p

As in all my previous startups I paid an average of 40Lpa an 2-3% ESOPs to all the early team they made insane wealth. But now I'm thinking of going lower and meet the realities of the market rather than paying higher why not paying the market rate?

I have been taking multiple interviews and experienced this people consider higher salaries to be a lie they want to earn dirt-cheap salaries and don't trust themselves with what they deserve and in the end ended up mocking me. One of the senior people that I interviewed thought 3lakhs per month was very high no-one pays that much. Same goes for an intern who I decided to pay 1lakh per month thought it's not possible and ghosted me thinking I'm scamming him ( his job was to meet high profile people make connection with different founders by going to parties and events regularly )!

My new startup is not in crypto but in something unique!

What do you'll think should I pay people less as that's what they think they deserve?

Paying higher / lower in Indian Startup scene

I saw the founders' posts about hiring for Grapevine. Did you guys raise funds? If not, how is this being funded? How do you plan to monetize? What's next for Grapevine?

How is Grapevine doing?

Software Engineer

Does any one know story of GV ??? How did they penetrate into the crowded market that too with just text???

Grapevine customer acquisitions

Welcome to Personal Finance's Private Community

I got into a startup (informal) and invested my savings and also took loan from friends and family.

It would take a couple of years to clear up but I am happy thwt I didn't let go.of the opportunity and the learnings also realised the following.
1.I enjoyed the thrill 
2.When something has to go wrong,It will
3.My priorities changed (family,health,mental peace)
4.I am enjoying what I have more than ever and not cribbing about what I don't have.

I am about to touch 40 and lose all savings(instead loans on the head) but I have never felt so calm ;)

Anyone with a similar life altering experience 😉

My hustle mindset backfired and Lost all,but am happy

Investor

Any grapevines who started there careerIn ycombinator startup? , if so can you share your experience on how did you got in ?

Ycombinator experience

Hey Folks, I thought I should do an AMA specially after yesterday’s rumours that I have been laid off from Grapevine - this isn’t true 😂. It is however true that I have been PIPed and have a much reduced role now xD 

To be serious: Happy to answer any Grapevine questions that you may have. Features, ideas, questions on why we do what we do welcome - I’ll answer what I can! 

Cheers!

Micheal_Scott AMA

Hi folks, 

I'm Kashish, the CEO of EquityList and Founder of Cloud Capital which I run as a solo GP.
A little bit about what we do: 

EquityList is a full-stack equity management platform by AngelList India. Companies across India, US and Singapore use EquityList to manage their cap table, stock options (ESOP/SAR), shareholders, and related compliances. Managing equity for 10k+ stakeholders, 250+ companies and ~$1B in stock options.

Cloud Capital has deployed $8M+ in 55+ startups such as Airmeet, Rupifi, Orange Health, DevRev, ZET (OneCode) and others. I've also angel invested in startups such as OSlash, Atlys, Chronicle, Even Healthcare and others.

Excited to do this AMA, and look forward to answering any of your questions about ESOPs, cap table management, investing, entrepreneurship, and more!

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kashisharma

Live AMA: Hey everyone, I'm Kashish, CEO of EquityList. Ask me anything!

Hi All, what can help me join an early stage startup and grow up to the top close to the founders within a year? I want to be in the middle of the action 

Has anyone here done it before?

How do people climb up/become more important in startups as employees?

If they have the right culture then showing excellency in your role, helping out others in the team, having opinions on decisions taken (not just for the sake of it) should help you get closer to the decision makers. 
  
 Remember that at an early stage startup, everything revolves around the product, and you will be rewarded for aligning with that. 
  
 Speaking from experience, you will be involved in "the action" in a team of 30 people either way

Welcome to Office Gossip's Private Community

Seeing the salary discussion happening among unicorn and top tier tech co. employees, i must confess I get anxiety everytime I check into this app.

Like wtf. Am in this co. happily slogging for last 5 yrs getting 18LPA  even though I have total experience of 12 yrs working in Privacy and compliance solutioning team.

Now i feel like I have been living under a rock. Am already thinking of hopping in April, that's when my promotion, hike and bonus will be settled 😉 Wherever i land next i am sure I will spend another 5 yrs minimum, coz I will be logging out from here.

I blame you folks for killing the innocence out of me.

Grapevine gives me anxiety

Where did you work and how much money did you make?

Asking as it looks like a lot of promise of ESOPs and wealth creation has failed employees in this bloodbath slow growth, layoffs, and job changes.

"ESOPs made me rich af"

I have had ESOPS in 2 companies 
#1 - company got acquired ..I got 45 Lacs IN ESOP ...thats 1.5X of my last annualized salary  ( so additional salary for 18 months) 
#2 - Company became unicorn ... I quit and company bought my ESOPs . Got 2 Cr
That is 3X of my annualized salary

Company 1 - I had joined at very early stage ; Company 2 - I joined at mid-stage

UX/UI Designer

Welcome to News Discussion's Private Community

Guys, how was your transition from corporate employment to Entrepreneurship ? How was the journey and what challenges did you face ? Was your Risk rewarding as you hoped ?

Employment to Entrepreneurship

Thoughts on the Grapevine app so far. 
Would you invest in Grapevine if you had the opportunity?
Do you think there is potential?

What do you feel about Grapevine? Is there potential to become the next big startup?

Here everyone talks about job and salary. Though there isn't any meaningful useworthy discussions other than office gossip, salary etc. the engagement is good. Any apps which are exclusive for startup founders and enthusiasts?

Any people who were a part of a startup that got sold

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