Tech

Start-up equity pep rally: We need a 'Rosa Parks moment'

Nellie Bowles
WATCH LIVE
Chris Zaharias
Source: Chris Zaharias | Twitter

Chris Zaharias, founder of start-up SearchQuant, paced the stage at a recent rally in Palo Alto, Calif., barely able to contain his rage, with a clear message for the audience of 200 frustrated workers.

He called for nothing less than a collective uprising, which he said would need a "Rosa Parks moment."

"Stocks are the only way engineers can get rich and retire. Remember that," Zaharias said. "To live here in Palo Alto, you need about $1 million in equity gains. And given that only one in five start-ups are going to amount to something, you need to get that to happen."

Held last weekend at Palo Alto High School, serial start-up employee Zaharias whipped the crowd of tech workers at the first Startup Employee Equity rally into an indignant unity.

Read the full story in Re/code here.

By Nellie Bowles, Re/code.net.

CNBC's parent NBC Universal is an investor in Re/code's parent Revere Digital, and the companies have a content-sharing arrangement.