E972: “Robbed of Equity”: Toptal denies any shares to employees & investors. Amir Efrati of The Information on breaking the story, founder Taso Du Val’s stock hoarding, unusual tactics & changing landscape of startup-investor relations; then former employee Scott Ritter on his ~8-year tenure, not receiving earned share worth $2m & life after Toptal - a podcast by Jason Calacanis
from 2019-09-06T18:39:46
1:00 Jason intros the Toptal situation and Amir
3:00 Amir on breaking the Toptal story
3:20 Frequency of compensation issues in startup funding
13:45 Jason explains convertible notes
16:10 Did Taso Du Val know what he was doing?
22:00 How can Toptal investors cash out?
29:15 What do LPs think of SAFE agreements and convertible notes?
30:20 Toptal is a cautionary tale for employees & investors
35:59 Jason’s thoughts on convertible notes/SAFE agreements
57:40 Jason’s main takeaway from the Toptal situation
1:07:15 How Jason would fix equity issues at Toptal
1:08:58 Jason intros former Toptal employee Scott Ritter
1:11:03 Scott’s thoughts on missing out on equity as one of the first Toptal employees
1:12:28 Taso Du Val as a boss and co-worker
1:14:15 Were there stock option promises made to employees?
1:20:55 Taso Du Val’s thought process on equity
1:25:10 Jason explains why he is so upset about this issue
1:27:45 Scott describes what attributed to Toptal’s rapid growth
1:31:40 Jason introduces #boycottToptal
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