

Ask HN: Is it OK to ask how a company is funded during an interview? - ahacker

Medium-sized start-up, a few years old.  Is it okay, when interviewing for a developer slot, to ask how the company is funded (whether they're bootstrapped or have raised VC)?
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ScottWhigham
Absolutely - the only people who won't ask such questions are first-timers who
are just in love with the idea of working for a startup (for whichever
reason). Ask. And don't let them snowball you with the whole, "We'll give you
x shares" bit either. "x shares" is meaningless unless you know how many
shares the company has outstanding.

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davidw
I ask as much as I can about the financial situation of a company. At worst
they can decline to talk about something. At best you get a much better idea
of what's going on. In any case it probably leaves a good impression - that
you understand it's a business and want to know about how it functions.

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byoung2
They might even volunteer it before you ask. When I interviewed at Mahalo,
there was a big timeline painted on the wall. There was a big red "X" about 18
months out that read "We're funded through this date." That was in 2007, and
we know how that worked out.

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NonEUCitizen
Yes. If they're a few years old, they should be used to being asked this
question by prospective hires -- some developers won't join until a startup is
VC-funded (and some others want a bigger stake and won't join if it's already
VC-funded).

