
My 2 Co-Founders Are Being Head-Hunted By Apple, Google and Facebook. Advice? - MatCarpenter
http://www.sofamoolah.com/personal/so-ive-invested-in-an-iphone-app/
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jacquesm
That's great news. It would be a lot more worrying if you were their last
choice for a partnership. Really, count your blessings. And as long as they're
being headhunted but they haven't accepted you're in good shape.

It's like dating a very pretty woman. You can worry all the time that she's
got lots of suitors and you can destroy your relationship by being jealous of
all kinds of things that you imagine might happen or are happening. But the
only thing that matters is that you're together and she apparently chose you,
even if you're a bit insecure about why it is you over all those other options
out there.

That would say more about you than it would about them ;)

Be happy, make them proud and I'm sure they'll make you proud as well.

~~~
icco
Yup, and remember, Google, Apple and Facebook are all afraid that all of the
smart talent is starting to build companies instead of coming to work for
them, so their recruiting is increasing to deal with that.

To continue the analogy, big companies are women(or men if you prefer) in
their early 30s worried they are gonna be alone forever. And you, your
partners and they are all stuck in a bar that you can never leave.

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pgroves
Getting a call from a headhunter doesn't really mean that much. They are just
trying to get someone with a decent resume into the interview pipeline where
they will actually be evaluated. I get contacted somewhat frequently by people
looking for machine learning devs (including facebook in the past and google
quite recently) but there's never any specifics about position, salary, or
project. After taking a few calls with headhunters just to see what it was
like, I can't imagine someone who is not looking for a job anyway giving them
serious attention. It's not a job offer; it's an offer to trudge through their
interview process.

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jjguy
The best people always have many opportunities. It's like Joel said in 2006
[1]: the good ones never "hit the market" because they simply pick up the
phone and call in the outstanding offers.

Don't fret. View it as validation you've got a good team. For all of you, if
your startup is successful the opportunities from Apple, Google and Facebook
will only get better. If the startup doesn't go so well, those offers will
still be there.

1
[http://www.joelonsoftware.com/articles/FindingGreatDeveloper...](http://www.joelonsoftware.com/articles/FindingGreatDevelopers.html)

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bitanarch
It's a good thing. It means your co-founders already have a bit of job
security. With that in mind, you guys are ready to stick together and keep
fighting. :)

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byrneseyeview
The only thing worse that having cofounders who big companies are trying to
hire is having cofounders who big companies aren't trying to hire.

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kstenerud
I think it's a pretty common occurrence. FB came after me a couple of months
ago, but truth be told, I wouldn't even be co-founding a startup if I didn't
believe in it. It would take a LOT (read: impossible) to woo me away from
something I believe in. I suspect most serious co-founders are the same way.

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13hours
If they're are sure as you are that your idea is going to make it big, they
have an incentive to stay rather than go work for Google or Facebook, because
they have a lot to gain from something huge. If they don't, you already have a
problem, never mind the head hunting, because then they don't really believe
in the idea. Then you'll have to incentivize them in the short term with cash
probably (ie pay them more than Google or Facebook will), or realize yourself
that maybe the idea isn't that good.

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ori_b
Talk to them, ask what they'd do if they got an offer, and then trust them. A
good developer will get headhunted fairly commonly, so it's nothing to worry
about.

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loceng
Hopefully they are with you because they would enjoy working on the project
and with eachother. If they just want money and a security net then they'll
jump ship. Hopefully the community you create with your project is what they
want though. Goodluck. :) I'm still trying to find great technical co-
founders, and they'll be the type who I'd want to be able to be desired by
Apple, Google, etc..

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WadeF
It's all part of the game. If your co-founders are any good at all they should
be getting head-hunted.

You just have to keep making sure the idea pushes forward as fast as possible.
If it stalls or the idea becomes uninteresting then the easier it will be for
them to jump ship.

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dpdp_
Comes with the territory.

Ask yourself if you trust your partners. If you trust them, then don't even
worry about head-hunters and recruiters. If you do not, then you should not be
in the business together anyway.

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topherjaynes
Get a high fidelity prototype and quickly. Nothing better to keep them
interested than a working model.

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lbcadden3
Only see 2 people mentioned on the site. Is this just a post for traffic?

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wavephorm
Warning: another OnSwipe site that crashes mobile browsers.

~~~
js2
Link to non-swipe version - [http://www.sofamoolah.com/personal/so-ive-
invested-in-an-iph...](http://www.sofamoolah.com/personal/so-ive-invested-in-
an-iphone-app/?onswipe_redirect=no)

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markokocic
Let them hand over to youtheir stake in your startup, and find other
cofounders / employees.

~~~
jacquesm
Being headhunted is not something that you actively go and invite, hence the
'hunted' part of the word. It means that his partners have very little say in
that happening, if any at all.

The fact that they've pledged their allegiance to the start-up in question
speaks volumes about them and I think your suggestion completely misses the
point here.

