

Would you leave a stable corporate job to be first employee of a small company? - panjaro


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greenyoda
Depends on the company (who are the founders? do they know what they're
doing?), their product, the compensation they're offering, the job they're
offering (I don't want to be a manager again), their location (no interest in
moving away from NYC), who their competition is, and countless other factors.
But most probably no.

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panjaro
It's an established company but not IT. Recently owner has decided to go more
aggressively on the software/website/apps side of the company. There was one
freelancer working on it but they want someone on site now as freelancer won't
be able to continue full time.

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dudul
No.

Never be the first employee, be the last founder.

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panjaro
Reason?

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dudul
Based on my experience, first employee is the worst position.

There is a shit load to do so you'll be working 60 hours a week, you take a
significant paycut cause the company is living on seed or series a money, and
you most likely don't get equity. You'll get what, 1% in stock options at the
most (probably more around 0.5). It will take several years to vest (again,
the average tenure today being around 3 years you won't see all your options
vested), most likely will be deluted in series b.

And the funny thing is that they'll start hiring a few months after you, and
the budget approved by the board will be higher so other employees will make
more than you.

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bahador
yes.

edit: depends on the company.

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f2f
no.

edit: depends on the company

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panjaro
Only thing that scares me is the type of person the owner is. If he is typical
strict non-technical and demanding boss then it'll be hell I guess

