I do not take ConvertKit for granted. Every point I made is pointed directly at GitLab. GitLab isn't open or bootstrapped. I have nothing but respect for every company on the open startups page of Baremetrics, including and especially Baremetrics themselves.
I have worked for a few startups and I've been laid off from a couple of them. I would never believe a bootstrapped company could do what we're doing but we do and I'm lucky enough to be a part of it. We aren't unique either. Basecamp has been doing this for a lot longer than ConvertKit has.
Bootstrapped companies face many challenges that VC backed companies don't. GitLab isn't bootstrapped. I lament that companies with all this money don't treat their employees better when they definitely can afford it. If they say they can't then they are probably wasting money. @emilycook said in a comment below
> ...I was able to negotiate for a higher salary and they adjusted. If GitLab wants you badly enough then they'll do what every company does and try and make themselves competitive. You just have less leverage to negotiate in general because you're competing with international talent vs local talent.
So, they have the money to pay more but they are simply choosing not to.
The CEO of a VC backed company I worked for got a 40% pay raise immediately after a 60% workforce layoff. He was already the highest paid person in the company.
We do plan on scaling to $100,000,000 in ARR. We are planning on keeping this model. We have actually purposely limited how many people we hire to fewer than 50. I'm curious what GitLabs ARR is. I know GitLab raised nearly $170MM whereas ConvertKit has raised $0. 52% of the profit is distributed twice a year to employees at our company retreats. We're on track to hit $20MM ARR by the end of this year. We have a 401k program with 4% match. We get a $1000 "Paid" Paid time off bonus once a year. GitLab is a "Unicorn" but they've cheated their employees to get there. A billion dollar company can't pay people the same based on their role? Sounds like SV venture sharks speaking under the guise of remote work.
I work for ConvertKit. We’re fully remote and have public, standardized salaries regardless of where you live in the world. Pay is based on title. If you want more pay you need a new title and if you know someone’s title you know their pay. Not all employees share their title because it’s personal but it’s also not a secret.
It’s way more fair than what Gitlab does IMO.
Also our financials are public. We’re bootstrapped and profitable with no outside investment so saying standardized salaries hurt the company is a lazy cop out at best. https://convertkit.baremetrics.com/
He isn't explaining why the blackhole would look like a fuzzy coffee mug stain. He's explaining why the _picture_ of the blackhole will look like a fuzzy coffee mug stain.
To your point, it's like taking a picture of Uranus with film and waiting for it to develop. People familiar with the matter can guess what the _image_ will look like not what Uranus actually looks like.
This is all very clear in the first 25 seconds of the video if you actually listen to what he's saying.
I don’t think so. I think it’s pretty naive to think some people exist without personality flaws.
Everything people do is out of some sort of greed. Some of it results in good deeds others not so much.
You volunteer or donate to charity because it makes you feel good, boosts your ego, and/or inflates your sense of self worth but you ARE being helpful in the grand scheme of things.
I also believe this. If you run a side project by yourself and you don't target EU users directly, but might have a few, it most likely won't be worth the effort to actually follow through on enforcement.
However, that seems like a very arbitrary line and governments love to waste money.
But like you said, this is also just a hobby project for me.