Can you sell out without knowing you’re selling out yet?
Graffiti artist David Choe stands to make a fortune off of work he did for Facebook’s offices back in 2005. According to the New York Times, Choe was approached by then-Facebook president Sean Parker to spray-paint his work on the walls of Facebook HQ.
Although he thought the website was “ridiculous and pointless,” Choe accepted shares in the company instead of cash, which could be worth around $200 million once the social network begins trading as a public company.
In addition to his work for Facebook, Choe created the cover art for the Jay-Z/Linkin Park collaboration Collision Course in 2004, as well as a portrait of then-Senator Barack Obama in 2008, which now hangs in the White House.
From now on, artists, sell your stuff to tech startups. And sell it for a stake in the company.
