I'm working at my third startup, and money has never been close to the top of the list when deciding. First, I'm old enough and experienced enough to be skeptical about the pot of gold at the end of whatever. Second, my time is far more valuable than money, and how I spend it, who I spend it with, and what I am doing are much, much more relevant to me.
Startup employees don't earn more
61–70 of 162 posts
Re: Startup employees don't earn more
#62Earlier quoted context omitted.
The idea is once your making ~80k extra money does not make a big difference assuming your single. Until you hit an extra ~2,000k which let's you stop working. I take the opposite approach where a low stress 40 hour a week job can be pleasant. I have a minimal commute and spend less than 1/3 of my waking life at work or getting there. Further I mostly enjoy my time there. I did the high pay high stress job and it's j…
> is ~19% of your time. Let's not count the 8 hours you sleep. That gives us 8 hours out of 16 spent working. Also your employer isn't paying you for your commute let's count that at 1 hour per day this comes out to 9 hours /16 @ 5 days per week 45 hours out of 112 waking hours in a week spent working (and commuting). That's if you're lucky enough to work at a place that allows you to leave after "only" 8 hours worke…
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Re: Startup employees don't earn more
#63Earlier quoted context omitted.
Interesting. If I spent 20% of my salary on lottery tickets, how good would my chances be of winning vs cashing in my stock at a startup that goes public in which I made 20% less salary? And what would the payout differences be?
The startup deal is a much better deal than lottery tickets. If you can get a 1% ownership stake and we assume a 10% chance of a 100 million dollar startup, the expected value of that grant is 100k. The expected value of buying lottery tickets with 20% of your salary is close to zero You should also consider the fact that if you are an early employee in a startup, your future expected payout is at least in part a fun…
Even given the generous 10% success rate, and 1% equity comp, you need to factor in dilution, time till maturity, whether the company even goes public, and below market salary/benefits.
After that, I'll bet that in the vast majority of cases your maximum upside is significantly less than what you'd have with the standard bigco package.
Edit: not to day there isn't legitimate reason for joining a startup: it's just if the work isn't super interesting, you're getting tricked
Re: Startup employees don't earn more
#64I'm gonna be straight with y'all, I earn more as a post office mail carrier than I ever did as a programmer for a silicon valley startup with $1 million dollars seed funding. I also surprisingly have more freedom even though I work basically like a slave. Nobody wants to admit it but we are in a tech bubble. Sure, if you are in the right startup things might be different. I had a great valley experience - but it was…
Is there any chance of a systemic failure that would affect the entire economy caused by Silicon Valley? I am not talking about some shares losing value but with the Credit Crunch, we had thousands of average Joes in above their head in debt which couldn't be refinanced while the value of their home crashed.
I don't know that they've made anything that important. I'm up for feedback from anyone on something irreplaceable and necessary for consumers or businesses everywhere. Those that did are really old, established firms that actually sell product for a profit. Different model. ;)
Re: Startup employees don't earn more
#65I'm gonna be straight with y'all, I earn more as a post office mail carrier than I ever did as a programmer for a silicon valley startup with $1 million dollars seed funding. I also surprisingly have more freedom even though I work basically like a slave. Nobody wants to admit it but we are in a tech bubble. Sure, if you are in the right startup things might be different. I had a great valley experience - but it was…
I'm interested to know more about this part: > have more freedom even though I work basically like a slave
When you're responsible for everything, the weight of the world is on your shoulders at all times. When you're a cog in an accepted system, you aren't singled our for your inefficiencies . Perhaps less gratitude for being a baller, but a lot more comfort in knowing you aren't going to be wrongfully terminated because the CEO has a personality disorder.
Re: Startup employees don't earn more
#66This will surprise nobody on Hacker News. The allure of startups isn't a guaranteed 20% more than a regular company's salary; it's the possibility of 1000% more.
It's like the lottery, except you can influence your odds a bit more.
and accelerate your learning/career path a bit. Big companies with big company politics tend not to reward talented 20y/rs like they should with promotion, raises, and bonuses. But being promoted or growing in a startup has a return when you job hop, at least when you're starting your career.
Re: Startup employees don't earn more
#67I'm gonna be straight with y'all, I earn more as a post office mail carrier than I ever did as a programmer for a silicon valley startup with $1 million dollars seed funding. I also surprisingly have more freedom even though I work basically like a slave. Nobody wants to admit it but we are in a tech bubble. Sure, if you are in the right startup things might be different. I had a great valley experience - but it was…
How'd you get started at the USPS? I always wonder about being a postal worker, sounds like you enjoy parts of it, whats it like?
Re: Startup employees don't earn more
#68Earlier quoted context omitted.
I'm interested to know more about this part: > have more freedom even though I work basically like a slave
When you're responsible for everything, the weight of the world is on your shoulders at all times. When you're a cog in an accepted system, you aren't singled our for your inefficiencies . Perhaps less gratitude for being a baller, but a lot more comfort in knowing you aren't going to be wrongfully terminated because the CEO has a personality disorder.
Could be - hopefully OP will elaborate.
Re: Startup employees don't earn more
#69If your #1 job criteria is compensation, do not work at a startup. You'll be paid more at big companies. If you don't mind being paid a little less, and want the opportunity to be a part of building a company from the ground up, consider working at a startup. There will be a lot more ups and downs than at a company like Google. But at smaller companies, you'll have the chance to have a material impact on the success…
> To help keep our employees happy (and to be competitive with bigger companies when recruiting), we try to get as close as possible to big-company salaries, we don't expect anything beyond 40 hrs / week, 100% paid health benefits, 401k, 25 paid days off per year, snacks, food, full financial transparency, etc.
These sound reasonable.
Quick question - has anyone you tried to recruit walk away because you mentioned the 40hr/week expectation?
Re: Startup employees don't earn more
#70I'm gonna be straight with y'all, I earn more as a post office mail carrier than I ever did as a programmer for a silicon valley startup with $1 million dollars seed funding. I also surprisingly have more freedom even though I work basically like a slave. Nobody wants to admit it but we are in a tech bubble. Sure, if you are in the right startup things might be different. I had a great valley experience - but it was…
Is there any chance of a systemic failure that would affect the entire economy caused by Silicon Valley? I am not talking about some shares losing value but with the Credit Crunch, we had thousands of average Joes in above their head in debt which couldn't be refinanced while the value of their home crashed.
No not really it would just make the bay area housing bubble burst won't really affect the country