The Upfront Blog

Finding Talent In Silicon Valley

Elizabeth MacBride — Thu, 24 May 2012 15:23:49 +0000

The coming-to-Wealthfront story that best illustrates the value our company places on internal drive versus lines on a resume is the story that belongs to John Hitchings. The software engineer who sits unassumingly in the dead center of our Palo Alto office, John came to California from Rome, in upstate New York.

Wealthfront In The News

Elizabeth MacBride — Tue, 22 May 2012 18:43:28 +0000

The New York Times Wealthfront CEO Andy Rachleff was quoted in The New York Times in a story about the culture of Silicon Valley’s new rich. Many of Wealthfront’s clients are Silicon Valley engineers at newly public companies. The new rich in Silicon Valley prefer not to be seen as conspicuous consumers, says the New York Times in Preferred Style: Don’t Flaunt It In Silicon Valley. The message here is, ‘Keep shipping product,’ ” said a Facebook executive who requested anonymity while discussing internal matters. “If someone buys a fancy car and posts a picture of it, they get ridiculed and berated. … [Wealthfront CEO] Andrew Rachleff, a former venture capitalist turned wealth manager, estimates that the Facebook offering will create [...]

What To Do If Your Company’s Lockup Is Expiring

Elizabeth MacBride — Thu, 10 May 2012 20:07:40 +0000

A flood tide of shares is hitting the market in May and June, as a number of the high-profile tech IPOs from the fall emerge from lockup periods, including Jive Software (JIVE), Zynga (ZNGA) and Angie’s List (ANGI). If you’re one of the employees of the 28 companies whose lockups are expiring in May or June, you’re wondering how to diversify your portfolio and when to sell. Here’s our research on the question of what to do in the days immediately following the lockup expiration, presented visually to help you see the dip that typically follows the end of the lockup.* You’ll also notice that it shows the big difference between top-performing and bottom-performing stocks, as well as the average. [...]

Ask These 12 Questions About Your Options

Andy Rachleff — Wed, 25 Apr 2012 21:39:54 +0000

Next time someone offers you 100,000 options to join their company, don’t get too excited. Over my 30-year career in Silicon Valley, I’ve watched many employees fall into the trap of focusing on the number of options they were offered. (Quick definition: A stock option is the right, but not the obligation, to buy a share of the company stock at some point in the future at the exercise price.) In truth, the raw number is a way that companies play on employees’ naiveté. What really matters is the percentage of the company the options represent, and the rapidity with which they vest. When you receive an offer to join a company, ask these 12 questions to ascertain the attractiveness [...]

If You’re Selling Shares Post-IPO, There’s One Day You Might Want To Avoid

Qian Liu — Wed, 11 Apr 2012 16:54:27 +0000

Our analysis of post-lockup stock price data shows that, on average, one of the worst days to sell is on the day immediately following the lockup expiration. We found that companies that had IPOs saw their stock prices decline, on average, by more than 1% that day, following an average 10% decline over the preceding three months. On average, IPO stocks recover from the trough of that day in the next day or two, and some – as highlighted in this related post – sustain their rebounds over time. Because many employees emerge from an IPO with a significant amount of their wealth tied up in their company’s stock, they are in a position of having to determine how to [...]

Think Bigger. Think IPO.

Elizabeth MacBride — Thu, 05 Apr 2012 22:19:11 +0000

We’re still basking in the memories of last night’s Think Bigger. Think IPO. conference. More than 100 founders and CEOs came to the Rosewood Sand Hill in Menlo Park for panel discussions featuring top venture capitalists and senior executives of companies that have recently gone public. Here’s some of the great coverage of the event: PandoDaily PandoDaily’s Sarah Lacy wrote about the discussion around the secondary markets, noting the remark by Sequoia Capital’s Doug Leone that “the secondary door is shut for Sequoia companies.” Last night, Wealthfront pulled together a surprising number of big names in the Valley for a small event designed to encourage startups to think big and think IPO, not quick-and-dirty company flip. Read “Doug Leone: The [...]

Real Data-Based Guidance On Selling Stock Post-IPO

Andy Rachleff, Qian Liu, Elizabeth MacBride — Mon, 02 Apr 2012 20:18:36 +0000

Today, we’re releasing an analysis that suggests employees in IPO companies making decisions about how and when to diversify their portfolios should take into account whether the companies missed their first two earnings estimates. Companies that missed one or both of their first two quarterly earning estimates had a 70% chance of continuing to trade down in the three months after their lockups had expired, an analysis of 104 technology IPOs showed. The IPOs were from the years 2005-2011, the only years for which data is available. The conclusion could be an important touchstone for employees trying to figure out how rapidly to sell and diversify their portfolios after an IPO. If there’s only a slim chance that a company’s [...]

Wealthfront’s ‘Think Big, Think IPO’ Conference

Julia Barrett — Thu, 29 Mar 2012 17:23:11 +0000

Do these ideas seem familiar? It’s harder than ever to have a technology IPO. Private markets are removing the need for IPOs. Only big companies can go public now because of the high costs. The media is filled with misperceptions and oversimplifications about IPOs. On April 4, from 4-6 p.m. at the Rosewood Sand Hill, Menlo Park, Wealthfront is presenting a distinguished panel of Silicon Valley experts to give founders and CEOs the other side of the story. The conference will include expert views on why IPOs matter, why the difficulties of being a public company have been overblown, and how companies reach the IPO stage. You can apply for an invitation at http://thinkipo.eventbrite.com/. The conference is part of Wealthfront’s ongoing [...]

Wealthfront’s Appeal For A Designer

Elizabeth MacBride — Wed, 28 Mar 2012 18:29:34 +0000

Graphic Designer Wanted Like many companies here in the Valley, Wealthfront is seeking, in the words of our latest advertisement, a designer to help “mold the aesthetic heart of the company and all its expressions.” Designers are in short supply here – as you probably know. This Quora thread details some of the reasons: Design talent is valued more now than it was 5-10 years ago, especially the interaction and user experience design specializations. Engineering has increased in agility, creating an upturn in the quantity of products requiring design talent. Design is hard, and the expectations of designers now are much higher than they were in years past. Design education is lacking in its ability to produce designers of quality [...]

Tech Draws Graduates Away From Wall Street

Elizabeth MacBride — Wed, 21 Mar 2012 21:20:55 +0000

For years, the Ivy League colleges have sent many of their best and brightest mathematical and scientific minds to Wall Street as financial engineers. One of the drivers, of course, is money. Wall Street has always topped the list of the highest-paid industries – even rising above generally good pay in the tech sector by a factor of two or three. Yet, there’s another, more subtle reason for the conduit between these Northeastern Ivies and Wall Street. It’s the same reason there’s a conduit between Stanford and technology companies. It’s simple really: Young people tend to follow their peers into careers where paths are already carved for them. If a dozen of your engineering-major friends end up at Deutsche Bank, [...]