 | Groq was three weeks from running out of cash. Founder Jonathan Ross was staring at a list of names his leadership team had put together for layoffs — and realized cutting them would kill the product before it ever hit the technical milestone it needed. Instead of firing people, he pitched something else at an all-hands: keep your job, take a pay cut, take equity instead. They called it "Groq Bonds" internally — not a real bond, just salary swapped for ownership. 80% of the company opted in. Close to half dropped to statutory minimum wage — real money given up by people who normally earn well into six figures. It bought the company roughly two extra months of runway before the next round closed. Worth sitting with: the standard playbook in a cash crunch is to cut people. Ross's bet was to keep the people and cut the cash instead — and let each person decide their own risk tolerance rather than deciding for them. DM for credit or removal request (no copyright intended) © All rights and credits reserved to the respective owner(s). #Groq #EquityVsSalary #StartupSurvival [link] [comments] |
Predictive technology: computational social science