Engineer #2 at Mint.com on when to join a startup
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Engineer #2 at Mint.com on when to join a startup
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Re: Engineer #2 at Mint.com on when to join a startup
#2Great description of what life is like as a "ground floor engineer". It's true, you work constantly and have to be a generalist. In exchange, you get an incredibly rewarding job where you get to watch the company grow up around you.
Re: Engineer #2 at Mint.com on when to join a startup
#3'...365 days at the very least for the first year.' I guess the second year must be a leap year :-)
Seriously though, this is a great article and I admire anyone who is able to provide this level of commitment and passion.
Re: Engineer #2 at Mint.com on when to join a startup
#4I think the most important part is - "but the bigger benefit is you know how the entire system is architected and the code you’ve written impacts millions of people".
Seriously, you feel empowered when you know why the system is architected this way and not that way. Its immense satisfaction when you can see through how the entire flow works, how a new feature fits into the bigger product vision, how to debug complex issues by traversing through bunch of different code hierarchies/directories, etc.
You get this kind of wisdom only when you're in the those first few.
On the side note, it would be great to hear first-hand stories from her about how she got hired, how much salary + equity (in approx. range) she received, how was the performance rewards system for an early engineer.
Re: Engineer #2 at Mint.com on when to join a startup
#5I'd only recommend doing that once, however. After that you're better off being a founder if you like the risk, or a later employee if you don't.
Being a very early employee means you get paid in knowledge and seniority, instead of equity or salary. You hit diminishing returns when you do it again.
Signed, a guy who has been employee #1 at three startups. ymmv, etc.
Re: Engineer #2 at Mint.com on when to join a startup
#6Best part of the article is in the comments:
“'I quit my Masters at Stanford because I knew I’d learn a ton more working on the ground floor of a startup than I would sitting in a classroom.'
I don’t recall a lot of sitting in class on your part."
Re: Engineer #2 at Mint.com on when to join a startup
#7Best part of the article is in the comments: “'I quit my Masters at Stanford because I knew I’d learn a ton more working on the ground floor of a startup than I would sitting in a classroom.' I don’t recall a lot of sitting in class on your part."
That was funny.
I wonder if she's right about what you learn at a Stanford master's program. I don't feel like I got a great undergraduate education and sometimes daydream that I could learn it all properly if I got into a good master's program like Stanford. I've been doing web startups since undergrad. The stuff you learn at a startup is wildly different from what you learn in school. A lot of the stuff I've learned on the job, I wish I could forget. If only there was a pill I could take that would allow me to regain all the neural pathways now taken up by UNIX arcana.
Re: Engineer #2 at Mint.com on when to join a startup
#8I'd only recommend doing that once, however. After that you're better off being a founder if you like the risk, or a later employee if you don't. Being a very early employee means you get paid in knowledge and seniority, instead of equity or salary. You hit diminishing returns when you do it again. Signed, a guy who has been employee #1 at three startups. ymmv, etc.
And you get the credential of being "employee #X at foo" if foo does well.
For example, it might add credibility to a blog post (see title) or new startup ( http://bizeebee.com/ )
Re: Engineer #2 at Mint.com on when to join a startup
#9Best part of the article is in the comments: “'I quit my Masters at Stanford because I knew I’d learn a ton more working on the ground floor of a startup than I would sitting in a classroom.' I don’t recall a lot of sitting in class on your part."
Heh, the commenter was her old Stanford professor, and the link he provided to his website goes to a PDF of his CS249 final exam. Harsh :P
Re: Engineer #2 at Mint.com on when to join a startup
#10I'd only recommend doing that once, however. After that you're better off being a founder if you like the risk, or a later employee if you don't. Being a very early employee means you get paid in knowledge and seniority, instead of equity or salary. You hit diminishing returns when you do it again. Signed, a guy who has been employee #1 at three startups. ymmv, etc.
Well, as one who has been sub employee #10 at two startups that managed to make it to 500 employees, (One of which sold for $1.6B, fingers crossed on #2 going out for north of $1B), I'd suggest that there is a certain class of employee who can act in a supporting role, but isn't necessarily going to create the product.
Salary/Equity are usually pretty good in VC funded startups (As opposed to Self Funded/Angel Funded - where I agree, be the founder or come in later on)
Of course, I totally agree, ymmv - You apparently have seen the low end of the return, whereas I've seen the alternate.