juststef

Great story. On the verge of launching my own startup, and I've definitely struggled with whether or not to incubate (this, of course, is assuming they'd have me). I've heard from countless people—and I now agree—that the loss of capital is nothing compared to what you gain. After all, 100% of nothing is still nothing.

I also think it's great that you were able to recognize the mistakes you've made; And now that I'm sure you've learned from them, hopefully one day you'll have another opportunity to put what you've learned to use.

No, not at all. At least not if this were in the US (or he was a US citizen). I'm not sure what the tax system is like in Taiwan. If this were the US, he'd still have to pay income tax on the $3 million he received for payment for services, and he'd essentially gift the money over to the 10K employees.

Your allowed to give each individual 13K (last time I checked) in gifts each year—but there's a lifetime limit to watch out for. In either case, even if there were issues with gift tax, it would be the gifter that would have to pay the tax, not the recipient. So, it would still be a win for the employees. Good for them, and for him.