Does anybody know what Seesmic's total head count is, how much they've raised and when they raised it, and have a wild guess as to their cash flows? It'd make this a better data point.

[TechCrunch answered my question for me --- 7 was ~1/3rd of the company, and they raised $6MM a few months ago --- at 180k fully loaded (optimistic), they're now burning ~$3MM/yr, with probably a 1.5 year runway without significant revenue. Sound sane?]

Their most recent $6MM was a Series B. Their Series A was around that as well.

and so it starts.....

it must suck being laid off. You work a lot, maybe even underpaid, hoping to get something out of the stocks... then bam... you are dropped like hot potato.

used and thrown away, like a disposable razor, and almost for free. If you didn't work there for more than a year, then no stock options for you either.

hmmm... I wonder if in the future startups will be an attractive place to work for. The only people benefiting from start-ups are the founders, and VCs.

If so, start your startup and benefit.

Also, if it rips off people, there is a potential competetive advantage to deliver a better work-place, right?

This comment is going to get pounded, but it's a valid point: startups are speculative, and employees with pink slips don't have a lot of options to lock in the value they've created (private company stock: huge scam).