
Unorthodox Methods of Choosing the Right Startup - vic317yeh
http://vicyeh.com/unorthodox-methods-of-choosing-the-right-startup
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yowlingcat
This is bad advice and confirmation bias. It is written by a new grad barely a
year out of college at their first job, with no frame of reference to compare
to. From illiquid stock options, overexposure to corporate politics, poor pay,
opportunity cost of lost BigCo wages, network and career expansion
opportunities and career minting potential, there are objectively more
downsides than up to working at a startup. That's not to dissuade folks from
working at one. But it is to say that the incentives are heavily biased
towards those who are more senior and who can come in early as a senior IC, or
later on as an executive.

It is easy to discount risk until it's too late. You will have growth
opportunities at large companies -- whether you do at a startup is not
necessarily the case, no matter what you are sold. You will have to fight for
that high visibility work, to get illiquid options, and in all likelihood, a
stunted career track compared to if you had just done your early years at a
good BigCo.

~~~
biggcogrinder
Presumably written by someone grinding away at a BigCo. First of all, the
purpose of this article isn't to dissuade someone from working at a big
company - it's advice about how to select the right startup. Second, nearly
all of your arguments are actually in favor of smaller companies rather than
BigCo's:

1\. You'll always have to fight for high-visibility work, but it is far easier
to get high-visibility work at a startup compared to a BigCo. Most non-senior
engineers at large companies are treated as liabilities and won't work on
impactful or mission-critical software.

2\. Growth opportunities are much more limited at a bigger company compared to
a startup. Obviously, the best engineers can succeed in either environment.
But there's many developers grinding away at large companies, making marginal
contributions, with no advancement in sight. Engineers such as these don't
survive very long at startups. Same goes for corporate politics - there's
often 7+ layers of middle management at large companies who's only goal is to
make themselves look good (at the cost of the company's overall mission). On
the other hand, at smaller companies, new engineers often work directly with
upper management.

3\. The illiquid stock options and (potentially) reduced compensation are
clearly mentioned in the post. It's no secret that the upside and the downside
are both magnified for a startup. People care about more than just their
annual compensation, especially when you're young, don't have many
obligations, and have the rare opportunity to take risks.

~~~
athrowaway3189
100% agree. I graduated last year and my colleagues who went to BigCo have
been tossed into non-essential teams at the bottom the ladder. It'll take them
another year or two before they'll have a significant impact on the tiny
feature/product they're on.

In contrast, I joined a decacorn as a technical lead and shipped multiple
products already. All which get huge press coverage on tech sites and impact
company revenue on the order of billions/yr.

The only real difference is in compensation (~20%), but since this is the most
fun I've had in ages, I'd much rather pay a "fun tax" here at the startup.

~~~
yowlingcat
Not sure I'd call a decacorn a startup anymore. Is that 20% difference in
total compensation or liquid compensation? Unless the company goes public
anytime soon, the difference might be quite a bit more.

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bertil
There are unorthodox ways to test a future company, but none of them are
listed. My favourite include: asking the most senior person that you talk to:

\- What’s the biggest mistake that you made in the last six months? (Covering
their asses, citing minor infraction, laughing at the question, saying they
have not thought about it: bad; a sincere admission of a really bad call that
sounds like something that will inform their management style: forwarning;
either way: they’ll talk about the topic that they care about: financing,
recruiting, growth, clients, etc.)

\- What’s the biggest mistake that you will in the _next_ six months? Why is
it OK for you to expect that from happening? (Same as before, harder to
answer; we can learn a lot from others but for some things, no one was here,
and this is how we are going to make it OK if we have to: better. Same, will
cover the topic that they _worry_ the most about)

\- What’s the most important thing that you won’t be able to make if I say no
right now? Keep in mind, you have other candidates in the pipe, and I hope
that they are good too.

\- What’s the biggest problem for people in [your team, or another one that
you interviewed with]? (If their answer does not match what you’ve heard from
that team: bad; if it does, preferably with one level of abstraction above and
a fix.)

Call customer service, and ask them how they feel about the company,
preferably before your last interview. “Overworked” is good, “excited” is
great. “I’m not sure why I’m here” or “There’s a list of 74 problems that I
have, I wanted to raise to the CEO…” good material for your interview. “Not
sure, but if you know, tell me: I _am_ the CEO. Talk to yo on Thursday.”:
presumably good.

Ask to talk to a client if it’s B2B. They might refuse: “Why?” is a good
question then.

I like to ask the investor but that’s because I always go for the same
investor… I know, that’s lame. I don’t ask for a name, I just mention one
(other) company and ask if they are more, and then respond asking if they
could _rank_ them. Depending on the investor, I know that means technical
maturity, or business potential, or management. It’s not for everyone, but it
helps. You can also ask _competing_ investor and they might let you know why
they _didn’t_ invest. Not sure about the ethics of that one though.

~~~
mooreds
These seem like great questions to ask any employer, not just a startup.

~~~
bertil
Those are great questions to ask any employer, but I’m not sure if you want to
work for a larger company, those are good questions to ask. Let’s just say: I
don’t have evidence you can ask and get an offer.

