Liquidation preferences are wacky -- I would have never understood them without several patient explanations on HN. I'm curious: is modeling their effects just common Valley knowledge that you'd do effortlessly during a job interview, or would most candidates be as unknowingly ignorant of their effects as I was a year ago?
I sit with people with a googledocs spreadsheet and we plug in numbers for various scenarios, so they can see what happens if there is a quick sale vs. multi round and then later. And show how cash comp to engineers affects this too. I believe in total transparency for at least the first 20 or so employees wrt budgets, salaries, equity, etc.
If you "trick" someone into working for less, you have screwed yourself more than you have saved money.
