
What to know before working at a start-up - MMcCreery
http://www.thedailymuse.com/career/5-things-to-know-about-working-for-a-start-up/
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jasonkester
I used to really enjoy working for startups. You get to work on a completely
open-ended project from a clean sheet of paper, with a bunch of fun people and
the energy that comes from building something fast.

The "risk" that this article talks about was actually a bonus in my mind. It
meant that, more often than not, the whole company would suddenly evaporate
out from under you at some point and you'd find yourself out on the job market
again. Since this is an industry where Changing Jobs == Big Fat Raise, having
a chance to do so with a perfectly valid excuse ("we rode our $4M straight
into the ground, so here I am") was a definite upside.

Not to mention that finding yourself on the street after 6 months coding non-
stop while living on somebody's couch will invariably leave a fella with a
nice stack of cash. The sort of cash that goes a long way if one were to
squeeze in a quick nine month trip to SE Asia before hopping back aboard the
next startup for another fun, fast trip into the side of the mountain.

If you're young, unburdened, and looking to get exposed to a lot of cool tech
in a short time (and still get paid for it), joining somebody else's startup
is totally the way to go.

~~~
Swizec
I must be doing it wrong. Somehow coming out of a startup has never left me
with a big wad of cash.

~~~
jasonkester
Was that startup not paying you a salary while you were working there? Were
you somehow managing to spend your entire paycheck every week?

These are the most basic of life skills, and if you find you're not rapidly
saving lots of money while making any form of salary greater than $50k/year,
that's a big red flag.

Seeing as how a dev worth his salt will be making at least double that, I
don't have an answer for you as to why you ended up without any savings after
working at a software development job.

Care to elaborate?

~~~
Swizec
Well, one way to elaborate is that I have never in my life earned more than
$50k/year. Or anywhere close to that for that matter.

Then again, I've never had a salary salary either. The only time I've worked
anywhere completely full time, was a two month internship that paid mostly
with the fact that "Holy cow I'm spending two months in the US for free, this
is awesome!"

These days I freelance ten hours a week while finishing my degree. The pay is
good, but there just aren't enough hours to build any sort of proper savings.

~~~
jasonkester
Ah, that explains it then. Since you said "coming out of a startup", I assumed
you'd actually been "in" one. Sounds like you've done a bit of freelancing for
clients that happened to be startups, which naturally isn't quite the same
thing as working full time for one.

Best of luck building up the hours!

~~~
Swizec
I did found a startup once. But as the founder of a flop, I was left
financially quite devastated. Took a while to bounce back :)

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thrwwy20120508
> Start-ups have their pick of motivated young professionals, and they’re
> certainly not afraid of personnel shake-ups. Showing that you can easily
> roll with the punches is one way to ensure your success.

This seems to be at odds with the constant complaint of a talent shortage,
especially when startups have to compete with the offers made by
AmaGooBookSoft. Which is to be believed?

~~~
potatolicious
My first-hand experience is that line the blog is mostly wrong. Startups are
_incredibly_ afraid of attrition, while at the same time eager to cut loose
dead weight.

If the company values you and you hold the keys to some aspect of the
company's operation, the team is far too small for them to practice poor
retention.

On the other hand, with a finite runway and the need to move quickly, if you
can't keep up, there's little reason why the company needs to have you on
board.

So I suppose it cuts both ways... but if you're a competent employee, I see
startup hiring as advantageous for the employee at this point in time.

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mjw
Shame about the emphasis on long hours here. Not all start-ups expect them as
a matter of course and I'm not convinced that they're a healthy part of start-
up culture or crucial to success.

People should be prepared to be flexible of course, but I'd hate to see long
hours perpetuated as part of this cargo cult start-up success myth and
expected by default by founders.

~~~
MaxGabriel
Can you talk a little more on that? The author's stat of 16 hour days for six
months sounds inflated

~~~
jasonkester
Startup _founders_ sometimes convince themselves that they need to work those
sort of hours. Startup _employees_ generally have enough sense not to.

Not to say that I'd balk at working 80 hour weeks for your Startup if that's
what you want. So long as you're paying me by the hour, you can have as many
of them as you'd like. You'll burn through your capital twice as fast, with
considerably less than twice as much product to show for it, but hey, it's
your money. I just work here.

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n9com
This is vital reading for anyone looking to join a startup, especially if you
are coming from a corporate background.

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moubarak
There is no better way to describe my situation right now working for a
startup. it's my second desk in one month.

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sparknlaunch12
I worry if people don't know this before joining a startup?

For an employee, surely this would come through the interview process?

~~~
csallen
I think you would be surprised at the number of people who apply for jobs at
startups without being aware of _any_ of this. Or, just as bad, who hear about
this stuff but don't take it seriously.

------
Killah911
A startup's a great place to be if you're "young at heart"

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michaelochurch
I think, personally, that "the startup scene" is tapped and that it's time to
move on. I'm not saying "join big companies". I think it's time to forget this
social media bubble idiocy and move back to Real Technology, in companies big
and small. Joining a startup doing Real Tech can be a good move, but joining
some mummer's jape because "it's a startup" is not.

The most important thing, when joining a company, is to enter one with a real
engineering culture. Are the most qualified people making important decisions?
Is it going to stay that way? Will _you_ be able to make decisions that affect
you? (Expecting to make decisions that affect others, in your first 12 months,
is asking a big much.) Too many of these hot startups (and almost all of the
VC darlings) have shitty MBA culture. Sure, they have free pizza (at 8:00 pm)
and engineers can wear jeans, but the major decisions are still made by the
wrong sorts of people.

Also, I think the social media bubble is going to embarrass itself just like
the last one did, and I think it's going to splotch a lot of resumes. I think
it's wiser to make for Real Technology _now_ rather than in 2015 when a large
number of people are trying to do the same because Google is no longer acq-
hiring IUsedThisToilet apps for $487 million.

Finally, becoming a subordinate employee at a startup is usually a shitty
deal. The stock option on 0.01073% of the company isn't real ownership. It's a
lottery ticket. And if you don't know what preferences the investors have,
you're in absolutely no position to evaluate the equity even if things do go
well. (By the way, my friend had an offer at a VC darling, for 60% of the
salary he was making but about 0.25% of the company. When he asked if there
were preferences against that equity, the offer was rescinded. I don't know if
this is normal, but it is telling.)

There are 4 reasons to join a startup. 1. For a promotion. This can be dicey
because the startup might hire people above you as it grows, defeating the
purpose of that move. If you join a startup as the first programmer and end up
answering to an MBA-toting VP before your equity is fully vested, you've been
fucked. Startups have good reasons not to make their first programmers CTOs,
but if you're the first programmer, you should absolutely insist on investor
contact and lock in a VP-level title. 2. You know and trust the people running
the operation. I would say that this is the big one. Startups can be amazing
opportunities _if_ you trust the people running the show, and if they trust
you to make important decisions. 3. Literally no one else is doing that kind
of work. Since blue-sky R&D (once funded by large companies and governments)
has disappeared or is only available to people with PhDs from top departments,
this is not an uncommon case. 4. You're a founder.

~~~
thrwwy20120508
> By the way, my friend had an offer at a VC darling, for 60% of the salary he
> was making but about 0.25% of the company. When he asked if there were
> preferences against that equity, the offer was rescinded. I don't know if
> this is normal, but it is telling.

This is disturbing, but it does seem like he dodged a bullet there.

I'll corroborate that I had an offer rescinded when I tried to negotiate
salary and benefits... but this was not a startup. Do companies that behave
like this think that everyone is desperate to work for them?

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bluedanieru
What to know before moving to the US to be in a start-up: health insurance is
considered a bonus.

~~~
anamax
> What to know before moving to the US to be in a start-up: health insurance
> is considered a bonus

Another thing to know - it's fairly inexpensive if you're young and in decent
health.

For the vast majority of you, worrying about health insurance is more silly
than worrying about the cost of a car.

~~~
munin
that's not true.

a friend of mine was 22, she tried to buy individual health insurance with a
blank medical history and discovered that no insurer offered polices for her
gender and age group in her geographic region (VA)

no one would sell her individual insurance.

as a 26 year old male with a similarly blank medical history in a different
geographic region (MD), I recently had exactly the same thing happen. no one
would quote me a policy because no one wanted to sell me a policy.

~~~
jakelear
Disclosure: I live with a benefits broker.

I'm interested in your friend's story. At 23, male, in VA I had absolutely no
trouble buying an individual policy. I have some health issues, but nothing
major, but I was able to secure a decent policy for just over 100$/month. MD
should be even easier (if more expensive), considering there is no medical
underwriting in MD.

