31–40 of 132 posts
Revenue rate - Does the company take any money in, or is it simply running off funding Runway length - Similar to above, trying to gauge if the company is self propelled or not If received funding, how much and when was it received, also ask for burn rate here. Very quick estimate of company health = Revenue per month - (burn rate per month + (head count * average monthly salary)).
Whenever I get a chance to talk to an obscenely wealthy person I always ask: "You have enough money you live the rest of your life in idle luxury. You could just go to the beach and never come back. If I had your money, that's what I would do. Why the heck are you still working?" Of course, if it's a job interview, and you want the job, maybe not the best question.
I sold a company at a young age and had enough money to not have to work for several years. I sat on the beach. I traveled. I had fun.
Then I got tired of it. I really wanted to do something with my life.
So I started another company. That one didn't work out as well as I'd hoped, so I collected myself and invested in/became co-owner of another company. That one has done really well. I don't need to start another company to make money.
But I'm starting another software company now, and excited to do that. I am less motivated by money, and more motivated/excited to see this dream come to fruition.
There are certainly some people for whom the beach doesn't get boring. I absolutely know people who exited for millions, whether as a founder or an early employee, and just retired. They won't be interviewing you, however.
The people who decided to start again are the ones who have a kind of genuine excitement for making the world a better place, and their startup is a vehicle for them to do that.
What is the startup's burn rate, and how much capital is left, or more generally 'how much more funding runway is left?'
Depending on how open they are start asking questions about their cap table too, especially if they're offering you equity as a large part of compensation. Getting 1-2% in options is wonderful unless they have a down round or two on the books and those investors are going to wipe everyone out with their ridiculous liquidation preferences regardless of how much the liquidity event is for.
Revenue rate - Does the company take any money in, or is it simply running off funding Runway length - Similar to above, trying to gauge if the company is self propelled or not If received funding, how much and when was it received, also ask for burn rate here. Very quick estimate of company health = Revenue per month - (burn rate per month + (head count * average monthly salary)).
Might annoy or alienate a CEO (maybe that’s a warning sign?). But, these are the right questions to ask.
Yes, this is a warning sign. A CEO of a startup should know that employees take on risk by joining and that prudent candidates will want to take the financial health of the company into consideration when comparing offers.
I’m interested in why this CEO/company thinks their solution is better?
How will they protect their advantage (or rather, how is that advantage protected)?
This is an important one. Even so-called tech startups are almost always driven by business goals. Marketing, sales, financials, etc. Tech can easily get put in the back seat and just asked to execute on business decisions they weren't involved in making. That makes for a very unfavorable culture to developers.
Revenue rate - Does the company take any money in, or is it simply running off funding Runway length - Similar to above, trying to gauge if the company is self propelled or not If received funding, how much and when was it received, also ask for burn rate here. Very quick estimate of company health = Revenue per month - (burn rate per month + (head count * average monthly salary)).
Might annoy or alienate a CEO (maybe that’s a warning sign?). But, these are the right questions to ask.
Whenever I get a chance to talk to an obscenely wealthy person I always ask: "You have enough money you live the rest of your life in idle luxury. You could just go to the beach and never come back. If I had your money, that's what I would do. Why the heck are you still working?" Of course, if it's a job interview, and you want the job, maybe not the best question.
Some do go to the beach and never come back. Most dont. Because most are hyper-industrious. Their wealth is a side effect of their addiction to progress. Last Saturday I was at a billionaires house here in London, and he said he does it for the thrill of the hunt. Another told me beaches are boring. After you take 2-3 months off at the beach you want to do some more things, you want to return to what you're good at.…
The mostly idle rich simply have different hobbies and social circles than most people. So, you only really hear about the rich people still running companies etc.
The arrogance of many of the questions posted here surprises me. I am not unwilling to give answer to all sorts of questions that aren't the employee's business, but for some questions posted here the tone is so hostile and assuming that there is ill-will that I would probably not hire those people based on arrogance. The fact that software engineers are in a good position market-wise, doesn't mean you can say whatev…