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I would never work for Jason Calacanis - There, I said it

marcgayle.com

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Re: I would never work for Jason Calacanis - There, I said it

#61

Post by jasonmcalacanis »

marcamillion wrote: post #48
uurayan wrote: post #34

The irony of this post is that Jason would most definitely not want you in his company. In a startup, which his companies are, there really is no room for people want normal jobs and want to work normal hours. Startup life is a very fast paced constant swim upstream. You're trying to cram years worth of work into months to create enormous value as quickly as possible. ALL startups want "rockstar" employees as they he…

Firstly, how do you know he would never want me? I consider myself the perfect startup employee. I actually have worked for one startup before and am doing my own right now. I know about long nights, tight deadlines, and no money. I know about creativity due to constraints and responding quickly. I also know about abusive bosses and unproductive labor practices. I would be hard pressed to find ANY software developer…

Well, I don't know you Marc, so until you come in for an coffee I can't make a decision on your hire-ability.

Pros: you know how to get attention for yourself by using the classic Calacanis-HN link-baiting technique; you're not afraid to mix it up in the comments.

Cons: you seem like a whinny, entitled kid--I'm guessing you complain about a bunch of tiny things and you'll probably be a rice picker and not a samurai due to this; your writing is weak, and doesn't show much logical.

Of course, these are superficial judgements.... come to Mahalo for launch next time you're in Santa Monica, meet the team, see what we're doing and then write another blog post....

or maybe that would take actual effort as opposed to just firing off a blog post slamming someone you don't know

Re: I would never work for Jason Calacanis - There, I said it

#62

Post by jasonmcalacanis »

p206 wrote: post #18

This is more a comment on the video interview than the marcgayle.com post. I don't think Mr Calacanis' statements are incendiary. He explains eloquently what kind of people and attitude he is looking for, and doesn't seem to have a problem with people that don't match his requirements. I really don't see the problem with that.

sir, please don't introduce a fair and logical argument to a bash-Calacanis-on-HN thread or we will vote you down!

Re: I would never work for Jason Calacanis - There, I said it

#63

Post by jasonmcalacanis »

dshankar wrote: post #45

I don't know Jason Calacanis, his personality or anything. His "I'm never tired, keep up with me" is.... odd to say the least. Nevertheless, I do agree with his "I want to surround myself with people who can work at my pace, work 80 hours a week not caring about life balance." Maybe not at a large company, but at an early stage startup I WANT people around me who are working hard and determined to make their product…

Please don't introduce a fair and logical argument in this thread or you will be voted down by the SEOs who have 20 astroturf accounts designed to slam me.

Re: I would never work for Jason Calacanis - There, I said it

#65

Post by stevefarnworth »

jasonmcalacanis wrote: post #55
hugh3 wrote: post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's not the gist of what he says that's unreasonable, it's the details and the phrasing which reveal a lot about the dude's personality. It's the self-obsession inherent in the way he keeps referring to his own (self-perceived) good qualities as the ideals to which others should try to live up to. It's the pointless bragging. "Oh, I've only been tired a few times in my life, usually after a marathon". Cool story, br…

I kill myself in order to see our projects succeed, and so it is only fair in my mind that the folks who join my team do the same. It's not 80 hours a week every week, but certainly there are those weeks. The truth is it's probably not as hard as I make it seem in this video, but this video is my HR marketing. The weak people who see a video like this go "oh that guys a jerk I would never work for him," and that's EX…

Jason, I respect you and your work ethic, am a massive fan of TWiST and have been a Jason Nation subscriber for a long time.

BUT, personally I don't believe this HR ethic will work long-time with the emergence of better angel funding. You're looking for the mentalities of founders to become employees, and when someone can partner with someone in university or down at the local coffee shop and apply for Y Combinator, work the same hours and put the same effort in on their own company, instead of grinding in an already established company, I'm betting the best minds will do the latter.

Correct me if I'm wrong on that, there might be a wealth of super-talented, super-dedicated workers who aren't confident to run their own company yet, but I would imagine that anyone willing to work crazy hours, solving complex online problems, with the low cost of launching a product nowadays, they're going to try that (at least first).

Re: I would never work for Jason Calacanis - There, I said it

#66

Post by daimyoyo »

There seems to be a theme here. "Jason is a jerk because he's overly confident and brags and expects people to work hard." So? That's the exact type of person who should be running a startup. When you're facing long odds against you, only someone who's completely confident in themselves and their idea will get over the hurdle. Frankly there's almost nothing worse than working for a meek, type-b manager who doesn't have a clear vision. Believe me, I've done it. As a side note: I'd work for Jason in a heartbeat, work as many hours as necessary and do whatever I could to help his company succeed. And I'd relocate to LA tomorrow if there was a spot for me. Because working there is worth more than the money you'd make. After you invest your time with him he'll invest with you. He said as much in the video. Will your boss do that?

Re: I would never work for Jason Calacanis - There, I said it

#67

Post by jasonmcalacanis »

daimyoyo wrote: post #66

There seems to be a theme here. "Jason is a jerk because he's overly confident and brags and expects people to work hard." So? That's the exact type of person who should be running a startup. When you're facing long odds against you, only someone who's completely confident in themselves and their idea will get over the hurdle. Frankly there's almost nothing worse than working for a meek, type-b manager who doesn't ha…

Come by Mahalo for a tour any time! jason AT mahalo.com to set it up!

Re: I would never work for Jason Calacanis - There, I said it

#68

Post by jasonmcalacanis »

stevefarnworth wrote: post #65
jasonmcalacanis wrote: post #55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I kill myself in order to see our projects succeed, and so it is only fair in my mind that the folks who join my team do the same. It's not 80 hours a week every week, but certainly there are those weeks. The truth is it's probably not as hard as I make it seem in this video, but this video is my HR marketing. The weak people who see a video like this go "oh that guys a jerk I would never work for him," and that's EX…

Jason, I respect you and your work ethic, am a massive fan of TWiST and have been a Jason Nation subscriber for a long time. BUT, personally I don't believe this HR ethic will work long-time with the emergence of better angel funding. You're looking for the mentalities of founders to become employees, and when someone can partner with someone in university or down at the local coffee shop and apply for Y Combinator,…

Certainly there are more opportunities for brilliant and talented folks with every passing day. You can apply to an incubator like YC, TechStars or The Founders Institute (all great in their own ways). You can hit up www.OpenAngelForum.com or Angel List (angel.co).You can hit up the new crop of angel investors directly (assuming they keep investing!).

Or you can sharpen your skills working for a killer entrepreneur like myself for 30 to 48 months (my minimum recommend length). All of these are amazing possibilities. Coming to work for me and lasting three years or more means I will: a) Give you a Calacanis MBA in statups! b) Angel invest in your company, join your board and introduce you to other angels--provided it's a quality product. c) mentor you for all time d) get coffee with you any time e) introduce you to anyone i know--for all time. f) give you a recommendation on the phone--for all time g) blog/tweet/etc your latest victory to my legions of follers/the www.JasonNation.com!!! These things, I'm told, provide great value. it's up to the individual to decide their path... I provide but three: Open Angel Forum, angel investing, the launch conference (www.launch.is) and mentoring/hiring. rock on Jcal

Re: I would never work for Jason Calacanis - There, I said it

#69

Post by jasonmcalacanis »

birken wrote: post #6

You also just wrote a story about Jason Calacanis... The only thing you forgot to do was link to Mahalo. You might not want to work for him, but you should at least respect his shtick is genius and very effective at getting coverage and links, which works nicely since his company is an SEO play.

Thank you God!!!please include the following links when link-baiting me OR I WILL NOT tweet you back or link to you from my high page-rank blog: www.mahalo.com www.calacanis.com www.launch.is www.openangelforum.com

Re: I would never work for Jason Calacanis - There, I said it

#70

Post by dasil003 »

strlen wrote: post #35
dasil003 wrote: post #16

Neither would I, but does that mean he has a hiring problem? His advice is not necessarily bad advice for a business. Granted, he'll never create a great product, but neither will most businesses. If he can drive people to turn a profit that way, then he'll be doing better than most entrepreneurs. Wanting people who are willing to work 80 hours a week is probably one of the less ethically questionable things in his b…

False dichotomy: either it's working eighty hours a week or working nine to five. It's true that employees in a startup should be flexible: being willing to work late some days, work from home in an emergency, travel with a laptop (in return, startups are also more flexible: no one cares that you're not in your desk at 0930 or if you're working from home or a cafe). However, eighty hour weeks usually happen for very…

Absolutely true. And if Calacanis meant people who are passionate enough about what they are working on to pull some late nighters when necessary, vs someone who punches the clock every day at 5pm and says "that's not in my job description", then he would find a lot more people in agreement.
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