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Ask HN: Those who've joined a friend's startup as an employee, how did that go?

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Re: Ask HN: Those who've joined a friend's startup as an employee, how did that go?

#71

Post by wahnfrieden »

Prcmaker wrote: post #70
wahnfrieden wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Anyone giving you a wage while seeking a profit instead of partner equity is taking advantage of you tautologically

A fine opinion if you can afford it. I'll take a wage any day of the week, equity is nice to have once I know I can eat this week.

There are well trodden schemes for offering both over time in worker owned cooperative structures without sticking to a wage that is kept as low as the market will bear for your role (and may leave you finding you can’t afford the wage either for many)

Regardless it is possible and common to be taken advantage of even with your basic survival needs covered for you

Re: Ask HN: Those who've joined a friend's startup as an employee, how did that go?

#72

Post by winter-day »

joined a friend's startup that went through TechStars NYC. We both lost a lot of respect for each other, and I'm happy I didn't commit to staying on longer. The product is vaporware, propped up because their parents have good connections in the venture capital space, and the founders are acting exactly as clueless as what rich kids with a $XX million funding round would behave.

Re: Ask HN: Those who've joined a friend's startup as an employee, how did that go?

#73

Post by [deleted] »

winter-day wrote: post #72

joined a friend's startup that went through TechStars NYC. We both lost a lot of respect for each other, and I'm happy I didn't commit to staying on longer. The product is vaporware, propped up because their parents have good connections in the venture capital space, and the founders are acting exactly as clueless as what rich kids with a $XX million funding round would behave.

[deleted]

Re: Ask HN: Those who've joined a friend's startup as an employee, how did that go?

#74

Post by eastbound »

dataflow wrote: post #53
de-moray wrote: post #43

It ruined the friendship. I was uninformed on how stock grants worked and trusted their advice. They said "I'll take care of you." They made millions from the venture. I was able to buy a motorcycle.

> I was uninformed on how stock grants worked Any chance you could elaborate on this? What about stock grants were you unaware of (or misunderstood) until it was too late? What should people reading this watch out for?

I’m not the parent, but it’s really hard to pull a future-proof contract about stock grants. The most frequent shenanigan is probably to dillute the employee shares. Even if you are the CEO, investors can get you fired-in-bad-terms just to cancel out your shares.

Re: Ask HN: Those who've joined a friend's startup as an employee, how did that go?

#76

Post by em-bee »

saghm wrote: post #67
FreakLegion wrote: post #55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Separate from whether the process was any good, your friend wasn't necessarily wrong not to make you an exception to it. Nepotism can be pretty rough on a team's morale.

Yeah, if I were someone working at a company having gone through the "normal" hiring process and then someone new joined my team and I found out they didn't have to go through it because they thought it was a waste of time and they were friends with the founder, that would feel pretty shitty.

it depends on their previous relationship. if they have worked together before then the test should be redundant. so why should i feel bothered that they didn't have to do a test?

Re: Ask HN: Those who've joined a friend's startup as an employee, how did that go?

#77

Post by eximius »

My friends joined a startup I was working at. I was their manager.

I had to lay them off (along with myself shortly afterward) in less than a year because our founder let me hire them when we didn't have enough money.

They landed on their feet but it still hurt.

I did a few other things wrong before that. I had a lot to learn. Things I've regretted and learned from.

Re: Ask HN: Those who've joined a friend's startup as an employee, how did that go?

#78

Post by hifikuno »

My friend was trying to make a platform that would generate an App and Website for customers. He was doing the web work and his partner was doing the iOS work. One time talking to him I spoke about an Android app I had to make for my university degree. He asked if I wanted to join.

I must admit, the idea of joining a startup so young was very attractive and all I could think about was the dollar signs that would appear when I finally sold my equity.

After six months of work I never even got a contract, never saw a dime for any of my work. I stayed for so long due to naivety. Eventually I realized it wasn't going anywhere, and that was more due to design decisions and lack of response to feedback of concerns I had.

We talk occasionally still. I harbour no ill-will to him and I think he feels the same way, although we were never particularly close to begin with.

The start-up pivoted focus a few times to different apps and ideas but ultimately shut down. I am not sure what they do these days.

As a dad I don't think I'd ever take the chance on a startup again. I need to be certain that I can pay for food for my kids. But when they leave home I might be willing to join another startup. Especially now that I have a less then ideal experience under my belt to know what to look out for.

Re: Ask HN: Those who've joined a friend's startup as an employee, how did that go?

#79

Post by HorizonXP »

I'll tell you about the time I didn't.

I took the money, bought a custom engagement ring, and planned a surprise proposal & engagement photoshoot in Rome. She's asleep in the other room with my 8mo son, and I'm about to go to bed with my 5yo son.

He ended up being worth $1.3B. Shout out to @apoorvamehta. We both did phenomenal.

Re: Ask HN: Those who've joined a friend's startup as an employee, how did that go?

#80

Post by citizenpaul »

ytdytvhxgydvhh wrote: post #38

Didn’t end up going to work for the friend, but the situation still strained the friendship. An engineer I worked with for several years (and became friends with outside of work) started his own company, a couple of years later he recruited me to join as his business was taking off. He’d also brought in a business guy who seemed to put in lots of processes including a mandatory take-home coding assignment as part of…

Did you ask them if they were advised by HR/legal to do these tests to everyone to avoid possible future discrimination lawsuits?
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