Gemini Offer

Nov 9, 2021 26 Comments

Recently received an offer for Senior Software Eng from Gemini. Offer Details
Base: 205k
Joining Bonus: 25k
PIU: 5000
Bonus: 10%

How does this look? Would love to know more about the company from the current gemini folks. Have been reading some negative reviews about the company lately.

Yoe: 3.5

@gemini

26

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 TOP 26 Comments
  • Gemini
    Ef7UvN

    Go to company page Gemini

    Ef7UvN
    PIUs cannot be trusted the same as normal equity compensation most tech employees are used to. It is deliberately made to appear like RSUs or stock options but is fundamentally very different. Gemini is an LLC where only members of the LLC are the true equity holders. PIU holders are not legally guaranteed to receive anything in a potential liquidity event, hence they are constantly being printed without there being any funding rounds.

    During an all-hands standup our head of finance did go into what a potential liquidity event might look like. He hosted the call with our corporate lawyer bro and kept on using words like "potentially," "hypothetically," etc... It was extremely sketch, because the company has never been validated by external investment, Gemini has never gotten a **real** evaluation. So they basically get to determine the values of your PIU and it has caused great concern internally here. In the standup, he actually said the process of converting PIUs to common shares could mean that some employees could have a 1:30 conversion while others could have a 1:1 conversion. Supposedly that's all based on timing, internal valuation, and "complicated options math," yes they actually repeated used this phrase in order to not explain anything thoroughly. Many employees believe that ratio will be determined by politics and personal connections. We did do a 409A valuation at one point but it was reportedly very low, the way upper management spun it was that they purposely made the company valuation low for "tax purposes." Apparently they did such a good job at building a company that's worth so little that they would rather die than let rank and file employees know what that valuation is. The rules regarding PIUs are being made up as we go, we do not have the same rights as equity holders. This ride is not going to end well.

    At Gemini there are the equity holders and the PIU holders. It is becoming clearer and clearer that PIU holder == bag holder. This is one of the main causes of the mass attrition we have been experiencing.
    Nov 10, 2021 2
    • Gemini
      Ef7UvN

      Go to company page Gemini

      Ef7UvN
      There are many of cases of startup exits where the upper management had it pretty good and the employees got screwed. These are the exits that are relatively small and don't make the news. What is striking about the system here at Gemini is that this type of result is built in by design. There is no upside as an employee at Gemini.
      Nov 10, 2021
    • Compass
      gustopher

      Go to company page Compass

      gustopher
      Just got an offer from Gemini as well, can I DM you?
      May 3
  • Amazon
    β˜•οΈ code β˜•οΈ

    Go to company page Amazon

    β˜•οΈ code β˜•οΈ
    Piu piu piu πŸ”«
    Nov 10, 2021 0
  • Amazon
    tkkr73

    Go to company page Amazon

    tkkr73
    What's PIU ?
    Nov 9, 2021 2
  • Chegg
    hamza13

    Go to company page Chegg

    hamza13
    OP - did you end up joining them? I recently got an offer from them and would appreciate your take on the company/culture etc!
    Dec 27, 2021 1

  • This comment was deleted by original commenter.

    • New
      NoLongTalk

      New

      NoLongTalk
      No I'm not at the offer stage yet, finishing up the last interview this week. But all these Blind posts have me reconsidering.

      Current TC is $163k and also have 4 YoE, also applying for the senior software engineer position.

      Based on the other posts, if I can expect a similar offer to you, I'm not 100% certain I'd wanna leave my current gig
      Nov 9, 2021
    • New
      NoLongTalk

      New

      NoLongTalk
      I guess my take-home would increase by $2k/mo, so yeah I'd probably have to take it, but I really like my current gig (good WLB, easy-going).

      Anyway, I'm just looking for more info on the company
      Nov 9, 2021