
How to Pick Your Next Gig: Evaluating Startups - QuanticoIsLove
http://www.samvitjain.com/blog/evaluating-startups/
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dvt
Using Zuckerberg/Jobs/Bezos/Gates as archetypal examples of founders is a
terrible idea as they are _extreme_ \-- and I mean EXTREME -- outliers.

I also don't get how Jennifer Lawrence fits in any of this. As a counter-
example, Chris Pratt, an equally-successful actor, was discovered by a stroke
of luck when he was waiting tables in Hawaii.

Listen, I get it. It's cute to come up with pseudo-mathematical models that
justify one opinion over another and that might help us make decision-making
easier (Startup A vs. Startup B), but allow me to make a controversial point:
if you're thinking about working for a startup, _don 't_. Starups
traditionally underpay (due to offering equity), often have brogrammer
cultures (and no real HR departments), will fire/lay you off at the drop of a
hat, and working late hours with little recognition will be expected. The only
exception to this rule is if you're one of the first ten-ish employees -- and,
obviously, if you're a founder.

For obvious reasons, cap tables _highly_ favor early investors and owners. If
you have a high-risk/high-reward type A personality, start a company! If you
just want to have a career for a few dozen years and then more-or-less
comfortably retire, join Google, or Facebook, or whatever. It makes absolutely
no sense to join a startup if you're not even getting one point of equity.

Further, vesting will absolutely screw employees -- with either inflated share
costs (if you leave the company) or with unfair lockout schedules (if you ever
IPO). Not only that, but equity is utterly opaque: you literally have no idea
how much it's _actually_ worth. It's important to understand that startups are
a gamble for founders and for investors -- which is exactly why I _love_
startups: it's a perfect mix of skill and luck. With that said, in my opinion,
for mid-to-late stage employees, the opportunity cost no longer makes sense.
Unless you need a job to pay rent -- I've been there :)

~~~
rdtsc
I remember a CTO who idolized Jobs. And to make his company successful like
Apple he proceeded to act like an asshole, apparently out of all the qualities
and personality traits he deemed that to be the most important one. If someone
accused him of that behavior he always justified it with "That's what Steve
Jobs and look at Apple!". Everyone rolled their eyes but didn't say anything.
They just quit and the projects were failed. The CTO was baffled and blamed
others not realizing he was the problem.

~~~
swrobel
Unfortunately everyone who worked at a handful startups has probably worked
with someone like that.

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avip
Perhaps more perspective is needed before composing such blog post (undergrad,
had single intern). Seems the norm now is once you've walked 100m, stop and
write about your amazing journey.

My selfish considerations for a startup:

    
    
      Can I remote
      Does it matter
    

If you're working on something that matters, and you need help, and you're
accidentally reading this... please drop me a line.

~~~
RussianCow
You may have just been trying to make a point, but in case you were actually
hoping to get contacted via this comment, it would help if you had your
contact information in your profile. :)

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andrewstuart
My advice to junior software developers has always been that the things that
matter are:

1: "will I get the chance to work on technology that I really want to work
on?"

2: "will I get mentoring from great senior developers?"

I advise them to spend the first five years of their career honing their
skills in the craft of software development, I advise them to pay no attention
to money - I say "it will come later if you have become a great software
engineer".

Interestingly, I feel alot more is to be learned from working at a
disorganised and chaotic company, at least in the early stages of your career.
When you later see things done right then you'll truly understand why things
are done in the way they are, because you know how it can be done badly. Which
is to say, it doesn't matter if the company you work at is well run or not.

It always makes me feel that a junior developer is off track if their primary
selection criteria is anything but the opportunity to learn how to become a
great developer.

I guess maybe its different in Silicon Valley.

~~~
durgiston
How can you learn anything in a chaotic and disorganized environment? Either
nobody has time to teach you anything, because everything is chaotic and
disorganized and they need to fix it, or they are the reason everything is
messed and you don't want to learn from that.

I feel that you would be much better off learning the right way to do things
first, then going somewhere that is chaotic and seeing why best practices are
in fact best. Much harder to unlearn the wrong way than just learn the right
way in the first place if you ask me.

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horsecaptin
Never ever compromise salary for equity.

The equity is what you get in exchange for the risk that the company will not
be successful; and for all the extra hours you'll probably be working.

The salary is what you get because that is how much your position pays in the
market.

Things to compromise salary for:

\- You need a job badly. You're already planning your own exit.

\- If you were to get a higher salary somewhere else, you'd still prefer to
work here.

\- You don't need the money.

~~~
brianwawok
If you go by this, no one would bootstrap. By definition you give up salary
for 100% equity.

Dont sacrifice salary for not enough equity is a better rule.

~~~
joshvm
Arguably that falls into the last category. If you can work for nothing but
equity, then somehow or other you don't need the money (right now).

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ScottBurson
Part II contains this Dustin Moskovitz quote: _A lot of graduating students
think I just want to work on the hardest problems. If you are one of these
people, I predict that you 're going to change your perspective over time. I
think that's kind of like a student mentality, of challenging yourself, and
proving that you're capable of it. But as you get older, other things start to
become important, like personal fulfillment, what are you going to be proud
of, what are you going to want to tell your kids about, or your grandkids
about, one day._

I guess I never grew up, then. I still want to work on the hardest problems.
That's what I would want to tell my kids about :-)

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marinman
This is a great hard analysis of evaluating opportunities but I am struck that
there's not even a crack at evaluating the human interaction element of
personal fit. Working for shitty people sucks, even if it leads to a boatload
of money. You wind up spending more time with people you work with than your
family, so try to price that accordingly.

~~~
dvt
There is in part 2: [http://www.samvitjain.com/blog/evaluating-
startups-2/](http://www.samvitjain.com/blog/evaluating-startups-2/)

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gmarx
Must be nice to get to pick. My whole career I've only managed to have two
choices on the hook once.

~~~
maxaf
I agree with you. I always wonder who these engineers are who have tons of
offers. I always wonder how come everyone's competing for talent, yet landing
a job is so damn difficult.

~~~
mud_dauber
This. Anytime I see a blog post with somebody humblebragging about
simultaneous offers, I mentally call BS.

~~~
Bahamut
The people are out there.

I could add my own story as a data point, but I doubt people want to hear
another one if they’re in such denial.

~~~
subrat_rout
I would like to know your story. And also I would like to know what are the
resources you followed/used to become a great front end developer. Any
suggestions or tips will be highly appreciated.

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lubujackson
Let's first of all recognize that if you could pick likely winners (especially
with limited financial and business info) you would be an all-star VC and not
an employee. It isn't something you should even think about because you will
never have enough info to judge accurately.

What you CAN do is figure out what stage the business is in. Are they pursuing
series A funding? Series B? Looking to be acquired? Minting money?

Are they growing staff and offices as fast as possible? That could be good or
bad. Companies that grow suddenly end suddenly, too.

How much runway does the company have? You can probably get away with asking
this. What you probably want to hear is "we are self-sufficient and growing",
what you will probably hear is "we have a vaguely long runway". What you don't
want to hear is "don't worry about it" or "I have no idea". Healthy businesses
have an idea. Startups should want people who are invested in growing the
whole business, not just employees and they should like that you ask
(otherwise, you are accepting risk for no day-to-day benefit. Stock options
aren't the real benefit. Working a job where you can more fully contribute is
the real perk).

Last, do you like and understand the product? If not, is the team awesome and
has much to teach you? If not, don't join, no matter how shiny they make the
future sound.

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john_moscow
Essentially picking a good startup to work for is as hard as making a good
investment. Except as an investor you can hedge between 100 startups hoping
that one will give you a stellar return, but as an employee you are forced to
put all your eggs into one basket.

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_m19m
It might be wise to also consider the community and values of a company before
you commit to it. For most people, and particularly for people at startups or
in demanding technical roles, you'll spend more time with your co-workers than
almost anyone else. You'll be relying on them in crises, supporting them when
they fall, and looking to them for a lot more than a check. In some ways a job
is like an investment, but in others it's like a marriage.

Years ago, I picked a small startup (with a great CEO, a great team, a great
product - all the things mentioned in the article), but when I think about the
best part of the decision to join them, it was how the whole company came
together to support me when I suffered a personal tragedy. I'm happy about
that startup's success, but I'm even happier that I was able to make (and
keep) the friends I made there.

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vadym909
Did I miss something? It lists 6 super successful founders with no startup
experience - and then recommends to look for founders with past experience at
a Rocketship or Serial Entrepreneurs as the best bet for how to evaluate
startups.

