
Finding jobs with startups - dfranke

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dfranke
A hacker friend asked me a while ago how to find a job with a startup, and it
bothers me that I've never been able to give him a satisfactory answer. I
wanted to respond "through friends" but that's not very helpful to someone who
isn't as well-connected, which he isn't because he made the mistake of taking
a mind-numbing job when he left college and losing touch with his classmates.

Startups don't often hire recruiters, and most of the "startup" job ads on the
internet job boards seem to be either a) established companies claiming to be
startups in order to sound trendy, or b) Ponzi schemes. So what's left?

~~~
Sam_Odio
Many VCs actually post their portfolio's job openings on their website:

\- Sequoia:
<http://www.hireloop.com/sequoia%2Denterprise/careers/portfolio_careers_home.asp?fnc=comp>

\- Kleiner Perkins:
<http://www.hireloop.com/kpcb/careers/portfolio_careers_home.asp>

\- First Round: <http://www.firstround.com/openings.html>

You might want to try to find a list of reputable VCs and google their
websites for any job portfolios.

~~~
Sam_Odio
Also, I was able to find my job this summer by just checking out the websites
of startups I'd want to work for. The first thing most startups do when trying
to hire is post job descriptions on their site.

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staunch
A whole lot of startups post on Craigslist. Searching for "startup", "funded",
etc works pretty well. Quite a few totally legit early-stage startups post
there.

[http://sfbay.craigslist.org/search/sof?query=startup&format;=rss](http://sfbay.craigslist.org/search/sof?query=startup&format=rss)

~~~
gyro_robo
One post I read, and I'm sure there are others like it, are from people with
some great idea (secret, of course) and they need someone to actually _do_ it.

Those crack me up -- what are they even bringing to the table? "You do all the
work, and we'll give you a small percentage."

~~~
Tichy
There is more to a startup than just code. For example, from the sounds of it
the producer currently seems to be the person with the highest workload at
justin.tv (except for Justin, who is working 24/7).

~~~
gyro_robo
Of course, but what do you want to bet most people with a "great idea" have
anything more to offer than that?

Before Justin.tv launched, I imagine there was a lot of coding/testing
involved. Most start-ups don't need a TV producer even _after_ they have a
product.

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geebee
Would most founders be interested in finding programmers through the
traditional job posting/resume/interview process? I'm thinking that to get a
crack at working with really excellent programmers and founders, you probably
need to be connected through a network and known a bit by reputation. No, you
don't have to be famous, just respected and known by a group of good peers.

I take a particular interst in this question because I'm working on a project
(that doesn't deserve to be called a startup, but maybe it could be), and I
need someone with kick-ass UI design and graphics skills (I wrote the backend
myself, but it looks lame). I'll go through my blurred social/professional
networks to see who would be into it.

Then again, I'm just looking for someone I already know and like who would dig
the project and maybe want to make something of it. An actual job job, the
kind that pays money, can probably afford to be more formal about this sort of
thing. But would you want to be? Seems safer to go through those blurry
networks at an early stage, where one bad programmer can drag everything down.
and one good one can rev it up fast.

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menloparkbum
Are you sure you want to work for a startup? In my experience, working at a
startup is good for one thing: learning how to manage a bunch of random stuff
all happening at the same time.

You don't get paid as well as if you just worked at google or yahoo, and as an
employee, your stake is usually something like .25-.75% of the company, which
means if the place gets bought for 100M, you'll make out with about $120K
extra, 4 years down the road.

$120K isn't anything to scoff at, but keep in mind that startups pay a lower
salary, and if you scored a job at yahoo for $90K instead of $60K at the
startup, after 4 years you'd have the same amount of money.

Now, if you can swing a deal where you get 10% of the company, I'd go for it.
But with a percentage like that, you're gonna be employee 3, co-founding, not
just "have a job at a startup."

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neurokinetikz
For me, it's been a combination of craigslist and the network of people that I
have worked with in the past.

Having worked for 9 companies in the last 10 years, I've found that it's more
about who you know than what you know.

And if you are well connected in the internet industry AND talented, startups
will find you.

Also, get your resume on the web and let the search engines index it. You'd be
surprised at how many random searches will lead people to it.

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Tichy
Just found this article from the dotcom boom area by chance:
<http://archive.salon.com/tech/feature/2001/05/02/sacrifice/index2.html> \- is
it still like that to work for a startup?

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wammin
I recently discovered a site, <http://buildv1.com> that was built for hooking
up startups with startuppers. I actually found someone from this site that
worked with us for a little while.

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nickb
Idea: Start a website that connect/matches founders!

~~~
jaggederest
Hey, that's my idea! I'm going to make a mint!

Step 1: get lots of people jobs

Step 2: ...

Step 3: Profit!

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wschroter
there are a fair number of postings from multiple sites specifically about
startups here -

<http://www.gobignetwork.com/startup-company-job/>

