

Ask HN: So is it easier to raise money than find a job? - citizenkeys

So I moved back to the Bay Area two years ago.  Since then, I've been trying to either raise an angel round or find steady work.  Every start-up claims they're hiring.  In my experience, however, that's just not the case.  During this same period of time, I've witnessed no shortage of half-baked ideas raise all sorts of money.<p>But I understand the business aspects of why raising money is easier.  Hiring people means expenses for recruiting, training, payroll liabilities, and legal issues if the employee doesn't work out.  Raising money on the other hand is much more straight-forward; investors cut a check and the exact risk is the potential of losing the investment.<p>So my question to all of you is: Can we just conclude that its easier to raise money than find a job?
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throwaway1979
It does feel that way. I started interviewing recently (I'm an experienced
dev) and it feels like the interview process is screwed up across the board.
Back in the day, Microsoft used to have the most grilling process. A full day
with 5 interviews. These days, multiple rounds of phone interviews seem to be
table stakes.

Perhaps I should look for angel investment ... it can't be more annoying that
writing yet another linked list traversal ...

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debacle
I know this sounds a bit uncouth, but maybe the problem is that you're not
good enough to work at many of the startups that are hiring?

The kind of ROI that a startup needs to get out of their first hires is
immense. They need people who could have been founders but are willing to work
as engineers. Many people may just not have that level of value.

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lsc
I can understand why a good and experienced Engineer would become a founder of
a startup. I do not see why a good and experienced Engineer would become an
early employee of a startup, when they can get paid better and treated better
for less work at larger corporations. As an employee at a startup, you get
most of the downside, and very little of the upside that you would get as a
founder. Really? as an Employee, you are far better off with a larger company.

Most startups offer some token stock and below-market wages. As such, they are
competing, usually, for inexperienced Engineers.

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omnivore
I'd suspect that there are lots of places in the country far less cool that
the Bay Area that would offer someone talented a job. It's just that they're
not in the Bay Area. Way easier to find a job than to get funding.

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46Bit
Without a track record of success I'd question that it's that easy to raise
funding. It might help if you explained your experiences with startups that
are hiring.

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citizenkeys
I said "easier", not "easy". In my experiences in attempting to find steady
work at start-ups, the founders are consistently so busy keeping things from
falling apart that it seems like they have attention deficit disorder. Also,
early stage start-ups frequently don't fully understand what jobs they need to
fill or why. Finally, most early-stage start-ups don't consistently have
enough money to pay full-time employees.

