Financial Resolutions For Silicon Valley

At this time of year, you commonly see articles that offer long checklists of typical financial advice. If you’re looking for that, look elsewhere. We didn’t want to write one of those typical posts. It’s not that the advice is bad, it’s that those changes don’t matter much. You should maximize your IRA contribution, roll over your old 401(k), set goals and a budget for 2013, and donate to your favorite charitable organizations. These suggestions are worthwhile. Put them on your to-do list. Whether you do them now or in a few months [...]

Categories: Career

48 Hot Tech Companies To Build A Career

Every year, my students at Stanford GSB who want to work for startups ask me for advice on where they should work. I disappoint them by recommending that they not to go work for a startup at all. I tell them three words I know it’s hard for them to hear: You’re not ready. I prefer to see them take their first jobs after graduation at midsized companies with momentum, not startups, because they are the companies most likely to be big successes. Why is success so important? You get more credit than you deserve for being part of a successful company, and less credit than you deserve for being part of an unsuccessful company. Success will help propel your career. […]

Categories: Career

Manage Your Tech Career

It may sound strange for the CEO of an investment management firm to say this, but managing your career well is much more important than managing your investments well. Good investment management – using low-cost ETFs and low-fee advice – can mean higher returns in your investment portfolio. Over time, that might add up a lot of money, maybe hundreds of thousands of dollars on larger portfolios. But the economic rewards that follow from good career decisions in the technology industry are potentially much larger. Today, Wealthfront is launching a Startup Compensation Tool to help our clients with that part of their financial lives: their careers. The Tool offers data on the tech startup job market, including cash compensation and […]

Categories: Investing Insights, Planning & Taxes, Stock Options & RSUs

Winning VC Strategies To Help You Sell Tech IPO Stock

It’s well known that 20% of venture capitalists’ portfolio companies generate 80% of their returns. What most people don’t realize is the same 80/20 ratio holds true for public tech investing. The imbalance is even more profound for tech IPO investing. We found that for companies that went public between 2002 and 2008, 21% of the companies generated 96% of the gains. Just like in venture capital, a majority of the companies that went public during this period (56%) turned out to be losing investments. Venture capitalists and professional public company tech investors train for years and collaborate with other talented partners to identify the 20% of the companies that generated 80% of the upside. Imagine how difficult it must be for tech employees to decide if they should […]

Categories: Investing Insights, Planning & Taxes, Stock Options & RSUs

Strategies For Selling Stock Post-IPO

One of the most important and difficult decisions you’ll make after your company navigates a successful IPO and lockup period is when and how much of your stock to sell. After numerous Wealthfront clients asked the question, Jared Jacobs, one of the engineers here at Wealthfront, created a simulation to help employees at new public companies visualize different approaches to selling some or all of their stock. As far as we know, it’s the first publicly available simulator of its kind. [...]