Profitability is essential to Buffer

Up: § Buffer thoughts and decisions

The more I reflect on the Operating Principles, and further on what will be required to run Buffer according to those principles, the more I realize how essential ongoing profitability is to Buffer.

Another recent example where this came up is in the use of RSUs for stock grants vs stock options.

RSUs are a much better vehicle for what we're trying to achieve with Buffer, due to the fact that it's granting actual stock rather than an option to get stock. This is a big benefit because it means that team members will have actual stock, and actually participate in dividends when we issue them, rather than being excluded.

However, for RSUs to really work well for us, we'd like to do a net settlement offer when they vest. This means we buy back a portion of the stock granted to offset the immediate tax cost for the team member in receiving that stock.

To facilitate those stock buybacks, we'll need to be profitable. We wouldn't want another investor to buy back that stock, at least not all of it, otherwise we will start to act against our Ownership goals.