
Ask HN: How do I evaluate different opportunities? - abustamam
I&#x27;m in unexplored territory in my life. After teaching myself web development for a couple months I finally got a contract-to-hire gig with a startup. I love the company and believe in the product, but they&#x27;re not currently in a position to make any promises about employment.<p>However, I recently had the opportunity to meet with the founders of a consulting agency that is expanding really quickly. They&#x27;re interested in hiring me full time.<p>Being new to the work force, especially the startup scene, how do I evaluate these two opportunities? What questions should I ask, in terms of compensation (both monetary and otherwise) to influence my decision?<p>Thanks!
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mswen
Consider the following approach. Talk to the founders of the consulting agency
again. Say something like the following.

I am currently in a high risk, potentially high reward situation with a start-
up. I love the technologies and the creative nature of the work I am doing
with start-up X. I know you are looking for additional employees right now,
but since you are growing quickly I suspect that you will be looking again in
6 months and maybe again a year from now. I would love to sit down with you
once every 3 or 4 months over a cup of coffee and share some of what I am
learning and hear about how things are going with your consulting agency. If
things start to fall apart at the start-up or it becomes clear that
transitioning to a FT employee is not really going to happen we can talk about
whether you folks have an opportunity at that time.

And, by the way can you give me a list of the 3 or 4 biggest gaps in my skill-
set? One's that if I spent some effort learning would make me even more
valuable to your company at some point in the future?

I suspect that this would make you stand-out to the consulting agency and may
help you hedge your bets on a risky venture.

~~~
abustamam
Hey that's awesome! Thanks for the tip :)

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floppydisk
A couple of questions I've found helpful when talking to startups are as
follows:

1) What is the funding situation like - specifically, how much capital is
available, is any of it tied to contingencies (i.e. hitting a sales number),
what are your plans for getting more if it runs out/is there investor interest
in giving you more? 2) When do you expect to be cash-flow positive? (incoming
cash >= expenses) 3) What's your burn rate? More specifically, given the
current rate of cash burn, when is drop dead? 4) When do you anticipate being
able to make a decision on whether to bring me on full time if I join you as a
contract-to-hire worker? 5) What's the duration of the contract and what are
the renewal options if we don't go full time hire?

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abustamam
Awesome, very descriptive!

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JSeymourATL
> how do I evaluate these two opportunities?

Three basic criteria to score-

\- The Work: is it intellectually challenging? Can you see yourself doing it
everyday? Will it stretch you professionally?

\- The People: Are they decent, smart, trustworthy? Will they help you up your
game? Can you help them?

\- Compensation: Beyond the dollars (include perks, benefits, options,
bonuses). On asking about comp, simple - "what's your budget range for this
position?"

Check Payscale for a quick benchmark
>[http://www.payscale.com/research/US/Job=Software_Engineer_%2...](http://www.payscale.com/research/US/Job=Software_Engineer_%2F_Developer_%2F_Programmer/Salary)

~~~
Ginguin
This is a perfect response, with a simple addition to make it relevant to the
original situation:

\- Your long term goals: Do you want a lot of different experiences quickly?
Do you want a single place you will work at for years (however unlikely that
is these days)? Will these opportunities help, hinder, or have no impact on
your ultimate goals?

My final advice:

Sit down and actually write this stuff down. Don't just attempt to intuit the
answer, but actually write down the things you want and need. Write down how
you think the opportunities will impact your list. If you use that to feed
your decision, it will make your choice easier and lead to a lower probability
of regret later on.

~~~
abustamam
Hm, good idea on writing these things down. I tend to keep things in my head,
which I know is a bad habit. Thank you!

