Chiming in one more voice from someone who has worked for Jason: Yes, it's a grind, but he is completely up front about what you're getting yourself into (and if its not something you're interested in, I'd suggest avoiding it). However, if it is something you vibe on, it's overall an amazing experience that gives you many X the experience as you would in most other jobs. There was some hard stuff to deal with, but don't regret my decision to go work for him at all and would absolutely do it again given the chance.
I would never work for Jason Calacanis - There, I said it
71–80 of 115 posts
Re: I would never work for Jason Calacanis - There, I said it
#72But he's very successful. Who's viewpoint are we supposed to champion here - the employee or the employer? Should we not be happy when an employer is successful and can get a lot from his employees with minimal expense? Does the process of building a startup not put us squarely in the side of the employer?
Actually, in startups everyone is aligned in their interest due to stock options. Anyone who looks at it as employer/employee just doesn't get the startup dynamic. As an investor in 20 startups I'm constantly pushing to give more stock options to employees, and as the founder of three companies with over 100 f/t employees and 250 part-time folks, I'm constantly pushing to increase stock compensation over cash comp. W…
Why what? Don't leave with that cliffhanger!?
Re: I would never work for Jason Calacanis - There, I said it
#73Chiming in one more voice from someone who has worked for Jason: Yes, it's a grind, but he is completely up front about what you're getting yourself into (and if its not something you're interested in, I'd suggest avoiding it). However, if it is something you vibe on, it's overall an amazing experience that gives you many X the experience as you would in most other jobs. There was some hard stuff to deal with, but do…
Alex, Man do I wish I could have kept you for three years!!! You're a true Jedi and I can't wait until you start your own company... please make sure you save some room for me as an angel investor!!! :-)
Re: I would never work for Jason Calacanis - There, I said it
#74I can't help but post the perfect "villain" picture of Calacanis to accompany this story: [edit working link]: http://t1.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcT7wjPbXig0o_I76bh4g...
I love that photo.
Re: I would never work for Jason Calacanis - There, I said it
#75Think about this... Jason needs visibility. People who spend so much energy hating him, provide him the visibility he needs. Some people will hate him just like some people hate Steve Jobs. Now when an Apple fanboy fights a naysayer, Apple benefits even if both sides are equally adamant. If a Jason hater argues with Jason's padawans ;-) with equal enthusiasm, probably Jason gains. Anyway jason's gains are non measurable but somehow it looks like a gain to my possibly naive eyes.
But all this has a good side for the entrepreneur... If Arrington and Jason keep fighting each other the entrepreneur benefits coz no single superpower rules tech media. They will both need to treat the entrepreneur with more respect than if they could "collude with each other" ;-).
Jason is notorious enough in the HN circles that if you choose to work for him after hearing all you have heard, you are either an idiot or a genius. Do the math of creating ur startup v/s joining him as an employee and if the math doesn't work out, don't bother to apply :-).
I remember reading a pg essay that each successive employee brings in less and less value... something like 1:1/4:1/9:...1/n^2
that is not hours of work but value. As the nth employee if you do not get what u deserve, for creating 1/n^2 of the value, just move on, else stay back.
I hope someone creates a startup that computes a desirability of working with various startups, angel investors and the like. Something like seatgeek with parameters like how handsomely the employees are rewarded, how tolerable the workplace is and so on. I guess there is a smooth curve from being the first employee to being the millionth. Each person can choose his own sweet spot.
Re: I would never work for Jason Calacanis - There, I said it
#76Surely there has been lots of debate about his statements in the past. Rather than spending time on his polarizing way of gaining attention, the best solution is to let him do business his way and channel our energies into more productive directions. The last time I checked, no one is forced to work for Jason. On a minor side note: Am I the only one to notice that he seems to move quite a lot with his body during the…
Yeah, as an employee at Mahalo, I can confirm that no one is being forced to work here.
Re: I would never work for Jason Calacanis - There, I said it
#77I stopped watching TWiST for a while and almost unsubscribed from his newsletter because the Arrington drama was very Jersey Shore - minus the fake boobs. Despite his personality flaws, which we all have, the guy gives incredible advice that is actionable. And he does it consistently. Most popular speakers that we admire give far less valuable advice. The usefulness of "Be passionate, do less" pales in comparison to…
Anthony...I have to agree with you that he gives a lot of great actionable advice. Sometimes, he also spouts something of value (e.g. warning startups not to build their company on top of Facebook). But he goes off on so many topics and said such crap some times, that it fully discounts all the great stuff he has said. This is one of those things. Besides, he doesn't just have 'personality' flaws. He seems to be such…
Well, Arrington has his own problems, and I wouldn't take that as an example of Jason's dickdom.
Re: I would never work for Jason Calacanis - There, I said it
#78I've been at Mahalo for about 1 1/2 years now, and I can certainly appreciate what all of you are saying about how I'd have to be an idiot to work here. Luckily I had no idea who Jason was when I started, so I didn't know all of the lore surrounding his insanity. Most of it is exactly that. People get together and sensationalize his attitude and statements (he encourages this a bit with his public persona, I'll grant you that).
For the most part, working with him has been a pleasant experience. He can flip out from time to time, often there's a good reason, sometimes not. He's not much more crazy than any other boss I've ever had, and his contributions to Mahalo far outweigh any of this.
On the plus side, we get sweet perks, our internal culture is awesome (because we don't get slackers on the team), and we're doing some very cool stuff on the technical side of things. (Expect to see more of that in the future, and if you're ever in LA, stop by the ScaleLA or LA Django meetups we host.)
That said, I'm a little dismayed that hacker news spends so much time gossiping about Jason. Get over it guys. If you don't want to work for him, don't. If you do, send over a resume.
Re: I would never work for Jason Calacanis - There, I said it
#79I really need to write a filter to keep him off my screen, since just about everything Jason writes or says ends up getting me a bit riled. Just yesterday he sent out an e-mail saying that if you can't drop $10,000 on a premium domain name for your unfunded startup, you're not worth investing in... and proves how easy it is by listing the $133,000 he's spent on domains himself.
Actually, I would re-read the post. I say clearly that you can start with a good domain that might cost only $10 to $2,000 and THEN use your VC/angel money to upgrade the domain later (like delicious did, for example). $133k on domain names is insignificant. Don't be impressed by it... CNET owns $20M in domains, AOL owns $50m in domain names and there are many individuals who own millions. My point in listing the dom…
You are missing the most mysterious domainer of all time. Google "Yun Ye"
Re: I would never work for Jason Calacanis - There, I said it
#80My son Darren works for Jason at Mahalo. He is too busy working to comment here...so I will for him :-)
Darren works 6 or 7 days a week because he loves what he is doing, and is learning a ton from Jason. Yes, he is tough and has high expectations. But, Jason is the best mentor and teacher around.
Jason isn't for everyone, but if you want to rise to the top really fast...a ride with Jason will get you there.