Stephen Ratner was Legal Counsel at Synthesia and Product Manager at Remote developing legal technology. He also practiced as a startup attorney at Gunderson Dettmer and as Deputy Press Secretary at the U.S. Department of Justice.
Paper Money
Most people remember the exact moment equity was offered to them, but very few remember the details of the document it lived in. The scene is almost always the same: the interviews are done, the role feels real, you like the people, and then someone says, “And on equity, we’
Offer Stage
Offer letters are where most startup myths begin, not because they are inherently misleading but because of the moment in which they arrive. By the time the document shows up in your inbox, you’ve already done the emotional work of deciding you want this to be a good fit.
Founder Brain
Startup culture talks about speed the way sports broadcasts talk about momentum: an almost mystical force that explains wins and losses after the fact. Go fast, ship quickly, make decisions while others are still scheduling meetings—that’s the ethos. Speed creates visible progress. Progress attracts talent and capital. In
Fine Print
Every startup has a category of decision that lives just below the threshold of real debate. It’s the stuff that feels too minor to slow down for and too boring to pull into an all‑hands. When it comes up, someone calls it “standard,” there are a few nods
Quiet Part
Every startup has a short list of conversations everyone knows need to happen and almost no one wants to start. They tend not to be about spectacular blow‑ups. They’re about awkward truths: questions that might unsettle a narrative, surface uncertainty, or force people to renegotiate how they see
News
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