

Ask HN: Joining a startup as an employee: How to decide? - dhokj

I have been considering joining one of the interesting local startups as an employee. I have no experience working in startups, so how would I evaluate whether a startup is worth joining or not? There's only so much you can know about your employers in a couple of interviews and from their blogs. Given that there is lot of uncertainty in deciding this, could more experienced folks offer some advice?
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cmos
Are you a thrill seeker? Are you comfortable in a chaotic environment where
your future paycheck is not a guaranteed thing?

Working for a startup is possibly worse than actually starting your own
company. You are there to watch and participate, and while your fate is
unknown, much like the founders, at least they have more control of it. So you
are catching a ride on their bus. It could go swimmingly well, or it could
burn up in horrible flames in 1-X months.

If an amazing and chaotic experience is enough to make up for the guaranteed
setback in your personal life, then yes, this could be for you.

Just don't complain when someone says 'we can't hit payroll' or 'we need to
release no matter what'. You are voluntarily leaving a controlled environment
and entering into a triage emergency room. If you don't release or ship, there
is no income, and thus no company. This is a pressure cooker experience.

Your entering into a daily battle where the victories and defeats are real
time, in your face, and govern your mood, sleep, and appetite. For every 'we
can't hit payroll' line there is an equal and opposite amazing moment, a
moment that you can't get in a typical job, a moment that could best be
described as an 'epic win'.

If these moments of pure joy are missing from your current job, and you can
hack the equal and opposite low moments, then yes, join the startup. Just know
that your taking a gamble, and you will need to enjoy the experience no matter
the outcome. All future jobs will seem trivial in comparison.

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timcederman
The key things for me in evaluating this would be...

a) How much is the opportunity cost? You've got to balance the pay cut with
how much experience you're going to get, because in 99% of cases, even if the
startup does well, you're not going to get rich.

b) What's the vibe of the team like? What's their pedigree and track record?
Will you enjoy working with them for ridiculous hours? Will you learn from
them?

c) Do you believe in the product? Even if it's something unsexy, does it offer
an interesting challenge? Some of the 'sexy' products are also very unfun to
work on by the way.

d) Are they approachable? Do they care about their employees? Are they being
open an honest in how equity and salary will work? Do they offer the basic,
but important, perks like half-decent health care, free soda, and company
outings?

A gut feeling is usually pretty good indicator of whether it will work for you
or not.

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dhokj
Thanks, the comments are very helpful.

