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Ask HN: Pros and cons of working at a startup in 2019?

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Re: Ask HN: Pros and cons of working at a startup in 2019?

#21

Post by avip »

henning wrote: post #13

Cons: - Startups are disorganized - Most startups fail because they make a stupid product no one wants and the team is awful - Startups pay below what a large company can afford and often pay below market rate - Startups will try to low ball you on equity. Don't start with me about negotiating. If they refuse to negotiate, you have your choice of no meaningful equity or working somewhere else. This is often the case.…

This could have been a great comment with some more carefully crafted language... I generally agree.

Re: Ask HN: Pros and cons of working at a startup in 2019?

#22

Post by asdlfj »

Don't do it unless it's your startup.

If you want to join a startup, make sure you know everything about their background.

I would say most startups are mismanage and only a few are truly good.

The longer you do startups, the harder it is to re-join corporate. a) because you don't want to be a cog again, now that you have seen the light b) because hiring is broken, and recruiters could care less about your startup

I would say doing startups is a lifestyle choice. Constant stress, but ultimately, you wouldn't want to do anything else.

Re: Ask HN: Pros and cons of working at a startup in 2019?

#23

Post by expertentipp »

Startups? Sociopaths, psychopats everywhere. They don't have empathy, expertise, they don't even have money (for the salaries) in most cases. People should start treating seriously their mental health and how working with socio- and psychopats impacts it.

Re: Ask HN: Pros and cons of working at a startup in 2019?

#24

Post by sametmax »

Start ups will give a chance to junior with a weak resume if he/she can demonstrate skills. You may very well end up with a mission above your skill set as well, and grow because of the challenge and responsability. Less bureaucracy and smaller size also mean a quicker hiring process, direct access to most interesting people in the company and a wide overview of the entire product.

Re: Ask HN: Pros and cons of working at a startup in 2019?

#25

Post by ryanbrunner »

jypepin wrote: post #3

My view is only a data point, but what I've observed is that while comp at startups has not evolved much in the last 5 years (seeing roughly same salaries + stock packages), total comp at later stage startups or bigger companies has sky rocketed. The comments on the 2018 post you mention are all still true and relevant today. My experience has proven than as an employee, joining a post series B will usually be a bett…

I think one thing to consider with an early stage startup is the potential to advance in terms of responsibility / role far more quickly than a large company or even a post-series B company.

If you join a 20 person startup and are a good performer, it's not at all unlikely that by the time the startup is at 60-70 people (which isn't going to be a long time at all for a funded startup), there's a high likelihood that you'll be in a director / manager / other senior position.

In terms of equity though, I'd say you should value your equity at 0, since that's what it's overwhelmingly likely to be worth even in most positive outcomes and only join if you're comfortable with your base comp.

Re: Ask HN: Pros and cons of working at a startup in 2019?

#27

Post by statictype »

tirumaraiselvan wrote: post #9

I don't think this is anything 2019 specific, but working in a niche startup is probably the only plausible way of working on anything niche like say blockchain or serverless.

There are many big companies wasting money on the latest fad.

Hell, there are many big non-tech companies throwing money at blockchain

Re: Ask HN: Pros and cons of working at a startup in 2019?

#29

Post by humanrebar »

ryanbrunner wrote: post #25
jypepin wrote: post #3

My view is only a data point, but what I've observed is that while comp at startups has not evolved much in the last 5 years (seeing roughly same salaries + stock packages), total comp at later stage startups or bigger companies has sky rocketed. The comments on the 2018 post you mention are all still true and relevant today. My experience has proven than as an employee, joining a post series B will usually be a bett…

I think one thing to consider with an early stage startup is the potential to advance in terms of responsibility / role far more quickly than a large company or even a post-series B company. If you join a 20 person startup and are a good performer, it's not at all unlikely that by the time the startup is at 60-70 people (which isn't going to be a long time at all for a funded startup), there's a high likelihood that…

It's worth noting that depending on the senior role, it may not transfer as you might expect. Being in charge of a group of people shows something, but it may or may not be the kind leadership needed to be in charge of the same sized group of people at BigCo. I'm not saying BigCo managers are better. I am saying they have to worry about internal networking, internal recruiting, working with infrastructure teams, and other things you don't have at SmallCo.

Point being, depending on the BigCo and the role, you might have to take what feels like a step back in job title to eventually end back where you started. At least the competition for influential roles will be more intense since there will probably be several BigCo employees that want the same job and have advantages of shared culture and better access to the people doing the hiring.

Re: Ask HN: Pros and cons of working at a startup in 2019?

#30

Post by badfrog »

ryanbrunner wrote: post #25
jypepin wrote: post #3

My view is only a data point, but what I've observed is that while comp at startups has not evolved much in the last 5 years (seeing roughly same salaries + stock packages), total comp at later stage startups or bigger companies has sky rocketed. The comments on the 2018 post you mention are all still true and relevant today. My experience has proven than as an employee, joining a post series B will usually be a bett…

I think one thing to consider with an early stage startup is the potential to advance in terms of responsibility / role far more quickly than a large company or even a post-series B company. If you join a 20 person startup and are a good performer, it's not at all unlikely that by the time the startup is at 60-70 people (which isn't going to be a long time at all for a funded startup), there's a high likelihood that…

> If you join a 20 person startup and are a good performer, it's not at all unlikely that by the time the startup is at 60-70 people (which isn't going to be a long time at all for a funded startup), there's a high likelihood that you'll be in a director / manager / other senior position.

If you're looking at this from a compensation perspective, that's only helpful if the company also starts paying competitive wages at that point. If you end up wanting to switch to a big tech company as a director with only 3 years of total experience, you'll probably be hired at L4 which you likely could have gotten within a year if you started your career at that company.

Of course if you think you'll like the job and it's not a question of compensation, then this can be a big benefit of startups.

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