Ask HN: What are some of the dark sides of working at a successful startup? - dishfillet
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nameless912
I work at a very successful startup that's only a few years old. Generally,
things are great, but I have a few big annoyances.

1\. Management is often only slightly less clueless than you are about your
career trajectory. My manager currently doesn't have a solid plan for what I'm
doing 3 months from now, let alone 6 months or a year, which makes it
difficult for me to plan my long-term career trajectory.

2\. Lots of "policies" seem to be made out of thin air. I wanted to go to a
conference a few months after I joined the team, and my manager (one of the
original ~10 employees) approved it. Then, _his_ manager (the CTO) rejected my
request because there was an apparently unspoken, unwritten rule that new
employees that have been with the company for less than 6 months don't get a
paid conference attendance. I'm not upset that the policy exists, it's
reasonable enough for a company that's trying to run lean, but the fact that
not even my manager, who is one of the "inner circle", knew, made me feel kind
of crappy about it.

3\. Overwork. Everyone around me works 50+ hours a week. I try really hard to
plan my week efficiently so that I stay at the office for _exactly_ 40 hours
per week, get my work done, and turn my damn phone off on the weekends. But
one of my coworkers just had a baby and is still submitting code reviews at 1
in the morning. No one seems to mind that I am militant about my work-life
balance, but lots of people around me seem to be getting burned out. One guy
up and left for a couple weeks, and when he came back, he said he would only
stay if they let him start working remotely full time. They approved his
request, which is great, but it was the end result of 6 months of overwork and
high expectations from everyone.

Now, let me be clear: I _love_ my job. It's easily the most fun and
stimulating job I've ever had, and thanks to my being adamant about my
schedule it's not _too_ stressful, but there are moments when I feel like I'm
drowning a bit. Everyone around me is extremely sympathetic to each other, and
we just instituted a make up time policy (if you have to work late due to
emergency firefighting, you're entitled to that time back later in the week).
We're also very open as a company about mental health and the legitimate need
to take mental health days sometimes, which is extremely encouraging. I only
hope that the dust begins to settle as the company continues to grow.

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gshdg
Hypergrowth often creates cultural dysfunction. Teams quickly outgrow the
processes and communication structures that worked for them at a smaller size.
Leaders find themselves leading teams much larger than they have they skill
and experience to do a good job with. And in order to hire so quickly, it’s
not unusual for hiring standards to drop, especially around interpersonal
skills and values fit.

~~~
nellypat
I would have to agree with this from firsthand experience. This and the fact
that most people REALLY change when money starts coming in. It's fascinating
to watch...

~~~
avichalp
Yes, I agree as well from firsthand experience although I would love to see a
counter example.

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kiantol
The chaos is pretty nerve-racking. There aren't solid processes in place and
management could be clueless.

