Everyone gets low-balled

Talking with my friend, 'E', this weekend:

"We decided on a VC, but he's been continually lowering his offer since he noticed we wanted to go with him. First he cut my salary, and okay that's fine, but now he's cutting my team's salaries. They're already taking lower pay to join us. So I'm shopping around for other offers."

His story reminded me of when I first moved to Austin. My then-roommate, 'D', was selling his company, and the acquirer had agreed to a great sum. But when 'D' got the contract, there were a few clauses that completely screwed him over. For months, 'D' went back and forth with them, and they kept finding new ways to low-ball him.

And I'm currently reading a book another friend of mine wrote, where he gets offered a job but they lowball him by tens of thousands of dollars, with the excuse that because he's so passionate about the work, it'll be worth it.

In all these stories, the low-balling happens once the person commits. Then the other side knows they can possibly check-mate that person, and the game begins.

Everyone who is building or trying something new gets low-balled at some point. So this is my reminder to myself. It's just part of playing the game. And it's not personal.