alt Hacker NewsI was given a very large number of very low value shares. The company was about 60 people iirc and I think the hr guy said well we won't IPO soon but when we do, these shares might be worth a lot! Companies often aim for shares to be worth 10, 20, 50 dollars at IPO! Something like that. But it's obviously just vague pep talk. They also sometimes say everyone is there to make the world a better place...
It would be a scam if they promised you 0.2% of the company but then it was diluted to 0.1%. and nobody prevents you from asking i think. Otherwise it's no more a scam than a lottery ticket commercial showing the guy who won a Ferrari.
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It’s strange, every startup offer either is obviously a horrible scam or comes from a place of fairness and is sold like a total scam.
I guess being honest brings about too many opportunities for people who don’t understand the finances to make (or be perceived to make ) promises they can’t keep. So you might as well just get into a race to present the most ridiculous stuff possible.
It is a scam to me because they imply "if the founders get rich, we all get rich" because "we're on the same boat". And it's not the same boat at all: the founders may get rich, the employees most likely not.