Stock incentives: Rolf Assev
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This document discusses how to incentivize employees at a startup, including attracting and retaining the right people through establishing a compelling vision, offering competitive compensation such as stocks or options, and providing a sense of ownership in the company.
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Stock incentives: Rolf Assev
- 1. How to best incentivize your employees Rolf Assev StartupLab
- 4. How to attract the right people
- 6. How to keep the right people
Editor's Notes
- I started working for Opera Software in 1999. I was number 11 employed It took me 14 days after the first time I met Jon – before I signed a contract to work with Jon in Opera being responsible for sales and marketing. I started working for Opera with a salary of NOK 320000 as Opera had very little money. But I got 3 % of the stocks in the company. The year before I was working in Geelmuyden.Kiese. I was making NOK 1,9 million Why did I start in Opera?
- As an entrepreneur you think having a great idea is what is going to make you a successfull entrepreneur.. …that is not the way it works The idea is worth 5 % Your ability to execute on the idea is really where the value is.
- And to execute – you need to have a strong team So execution is all about hiring There are plenty of founders that are not able to attract people – they claim they are not able to find good enough people – and they end up as one-person-startup A successfull founder – is a founder that is able to attract people
- And how do you attract people? Just put out an ad in the paper? There are plenty of people out there that are looking for a new job You simply have to pay more than what they are making today…
- I did not take the job in Opera because they are paying the most.. I took the job because Jon shared his vision and values in Opera – he had a much bigger goal than making money. He wanted to change the world. And I loved his passion And I was motivated by beating Microsoft on its home turf I took the job because this was a job I really wanted. I never took the job because of the money
- People you hire and that choose the job because of the pay and the upside of becoming rich … ...these are the first one to quit when the going gets tough. I you have hired people that have started because of sharing the vision and the values – you are much more likely to be in there for the long run.
- But never understiate the value of your employees having ownership in the company. You want to make a strong family that are in it for the long run. You want all our employees to feel they have an impact. In Opera we gave ownership to all the first 30 employees at a very low valuation – before we raised money. After that we gave stock options to all employees in Opera. We learned that it was not about the employees wanting to become rich – they worked in Opera to change the world – to beat Microsoft and other reasons. But to be able to tell friends over a beer or family members over a Sunday dinner, that they had ownership in Opera – was very important.
- But to give ownership in options is not very interesting for anybody – except for the government who picks up the taxes. You want your employees to own their part in the company – stockoptions is about maybe owning something in the future.