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Ask HN: Pros and cons of working at a startup in 2018?

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Re: Ask HN: Pros and cons of working at a startup in 2018?

#941

Post by mathattack »

roguecoder wrote: post #172
mathattack wrote: post #110

Pros: - More autonomy - Less administrative overhead - More executive interaction - Higher percentage of superstar colleagues - Work is more fun - More breadth of opportunity and interaction Cons that YC can help with: - Less formal training - Less formal mentoring - When things go South, the cuts are worse and you have less notice (The above can be mitigated by offering training and mentoring for the entire communit…

One idea to reduce volatility in financial outcomes: offer equity in the YC fund itself in addition to the equity in individual companies. That would also give employees an incentive to support other employees in the cohort.

Other options include pooling of benefits, and active job placement when things don’t work out.

Pooled equity would have to come from the startups rather than YC. Instead of “for 6% you get 200K” it could be “for 10% you get 200K and an equal share in the pool of your class. Divide it amongst your employees as you want, though we suggest....”

(Note: numbers are made up)

Re: Ask HN: Pros and cons of working at a startup in 2018?

#942

Post by mancerayder »

mlthoughts2018 wrote: post #25

Open plan offices and general lack of a quiet, contemplative, professional working environment is the hugest con to me, even huger than the compensation issues pointed out by other commentors. I would look to start-ups to be leading the effort to improve industry practices for software development ergonomy and human-centric working spaces (i.e. focus on privacy, quiet and individual customizability). But instead, sta…

I think part of that is the high cost of office space in places like SV and Manhattan (the SV startup little brother).

Small companies end up in post War art deco buildings with flimsy elevators that open up to a mess of open plan tables, cables over the floor and pillars in strange places. Some of them have the audacity of handing out laptops and making a group sit in a conference room around a table all day (and days are long in startups).

That's what I've observed in Manhattan at least.

The problem is exacerbated by rapid hiring growth and the inelasticity of physical office building plans.

Re: Ask HN: Pros and cons of working at a startup in 2018?

#943

Post by quietthrow »

I would distill this as follows. Limiting to 1 pro and con to respect your and my time.

Pros - You develop the skill of approaching things more holistically as you are forced to see things from end to end perspective.

Cons: - As an early employee (#1 to 5) You are taking the SAME amount of risk as the founders but being compensated quite differently. The exception to this is where founders have invested their own money into the startup. But thats rare in SV style startups.

Re: Ask HN: Pros and cons of working at a startup in 2018?

#944

Post by rayshan »

MoBattah wrote: post #927
rayshan wrote: post #575

I think the biggest problem is transparency, which leads to wrong expectations. As a 3-time startup employee, people always told me I should expect a pay cut by going to a startup. But how much? When I received a Series A startup offer and a FANG offer at the same time, I couldn't evaluate them side-by-side because I had no idea how much startup equity was worth. I negotiated hard and got surprising results, which le…

Sounds cool. Went to your website on Chrome on Android and it is buggy. I get 404s everywhere. More specific, when I click the carousel--showing SF example pay--left or right. Like I can do a better job than that.

You're absolutely right, this visual quirk should not have happened. Fixing it now. Thanks for your feedback.

Re: Ask HN: Pros and cons of working at a startup in 2018?

#945

Post by seattle_spring »

One reason I would never again join a smaller startup: Most of them refuse to offer equity refreshers. Even after a significant funding raise, I've been at startups who simply do not offer any more equity beyond the initial grant.

Compare that to any competitive Big Co or startup, such as Facebook, Google, and Airbnb. All of them offer annual equity refreshers, and that equity is significant.

Re: Ask HN: Pros and cons of working at a startup in 2018?

#946

Post by seattle_spring »

sergiotapia wrote: post #50

30 here with a lesson for younger guys. Ask for more compensation not stock options. If you’re offered stock options ask if they can swap it for an increase in compensation. You vest slow, you may be fired before they vest, hell, the company may go under before they are even worth something. Take the money. Or take stock a few times and learn the lesson the hard way.

No startup is going to offer meaningful salary increases in lieu of stock options. You might eek out 10% more, you're still going to come out far below an established company offering liquid stock compensation.

Re: Ask HN: Pros and cons of working at a startup in 2018?

#948

Post by goatherders »

CamTin wrote: post #938
goatherders wrote: post #934

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I disagree with your entire post. It has never been easier to start q business online or otherwise. It has never been easier to start a business with virtually no investment or financial stake. It has never been easier to learn how to start a business in most any field and never been easier to find customers. I'm not sure what you are defining as risk or difficulty. I can list a dozen day-one-profitable businesses ri…

That would be great! What are they?

Buy a WHMCS license and a VPS. Go to YouTube to learn how to use it. Set up a simple brochure site. Join a $0 start fee affiliate program. You are now in the hosting business.

Too tough?

Spend $100 on a Beaver Builder license. YouTube to learn. You are now in the small business website building service.

Too tough?

Call a business and tell them you can help their local SEO for a price greater than $20/month. Once the check clears, get them an Advice local account. Pocket the difference.

Too tough?

Call a local business and tell them (true) that 92% of all visitors will seek out their business in a second source other than their home page. For $100 you will setup their Facebook page. For another 100 you will train them to post to it and reply to reviews.

Too tough?

Call a local company and tell them you can handle their social media strategy. If they have T, FB, LI, and IG then great. If not then charge 100 to build them. Signup for Hootsuite. Post to their accounts for the entire week on a Monday morning.

Too tough?

Call a small business and tell them that the number one way to generate repeat business is through a regular email newsletter to previous customers. Sell for $250/month. Signup for Outbound Engine agency program. Profit.

Too tough? Call a business and tell them that chat tech on the front of their site can increase lead flow by as much as 11x. Signup for Apex Chat account, charge $20 per less. (Apex charges you $10)

On and on. It's never been harder to start Facebook or Amazon or Google because we already have Facebook and Amazon and google. But divest yourself from needing approval and applause and you start to see one big truth: its really really easy to make a lot of money online.

Re: Ask HN: Pros and cons of working at a startup in 2018?

#949

Post by goatherders »

krageon wrote: post #939
goatherders wrote: post #934

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I disagree with your entire post. It has never been easier to start q business online or otherwise. It has never been easier to start a business with virtually no investment or financial stake. It has never been easier to learn how to start a business in most any field and never been easier to find customers. I'm not sure what you are defining as risk or difficulty. I can list a dozen day-one-profitable businesses ri…

You could start them with little investment, but your time is also worth (a lot of) money. That's not coming from anywhere if you work for any startup, including your own. You might make that money back later, you might not. In the end that is part of your investment and it's a gamble. If you do not have the financial cushion required to sustain you for the amount of months it needs to become profitable for you, you…

Baloney. Those are excuses. If you have no money the opportunity to make some/plenty is abundant and all around you. Everything else is excuses and procrastination. You dont need other people's money. You need to sell something.

Re: Ask HN: Pros and cons of working at a startup in 2018?

#950

Post by rayshan »

MoBattah wrote: post #927
rayshan wrote: post #575

I think the biggest problem is transparency, which leads to wrong expectations. As a 3-time startup employee, people always told me I should expect a pay cut by going to a startup. But how much? When I received a Series A startup offer and a FANG offer at the same time, I couldn't evaluate them side-by-side because I had no idea how much startup equity was worth. I negotiated hard and got surprising results, which le…

Sounds cool. Went to your website on Chrome on Android and it is buggy. I get 404s everywhere. More specific, when I click the carousel--showing SF example pay--left or right. Like I can do a better job than that.

Fixed! With a few other improvements as well. Please keep the feedback coming!
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