Why is this guy trending on HackerNews? To boost his channel?
Downsides to working at a tech giant
231–240 of 583 posts
Re: Downsides to working at a tech giant
#232What if these aren’t stars that are disappearing but instead the appearances and disappearances of wormholes that are either allowing us to see to another place in space where that star is or perhaps a wormhole blocking where that star previously was for us and we are now looking into another section of space where a star is not?
Re: Downsides to working at a tech giant
#233The pessimism in this thread really bothers me. I’ve read anecdotes on entrepreneurship being on the decline, but it pains me to read so many negative takes on startups. We’re actively training our young people to avoid taking risks, and it’s going to fuck us — especially if some of those young people have the ambition be early employees at, say, a startup that takes on climate change in a big way. Look — the fact th…
> Don’t work at startups to make $200M. Work at startups because you’ll work with people who have risk profiles that are much more likely to generate outsized returns as a group.
What's the point of that if those "group returns" are allocated almost entirely to the founders and the investors?
If you think it's not about the money, it's worth checking to see if you're being suckered by someone who realizes that it is about the money.
Re: Downsides to working at a tech giant
#234[deleted]
Re: Downsides to working at a tech giant
#235The pessimism in this thread really bothers me. I’ve read anecdotes on entrepreneurship being on the decline, but it pains me to read so many negative takes on startups. We’re actively training our young people to avoid taking risks, and it’s going to fuck us — especially if some of those young people have the ambition be early employees at, say, a startup that takes on climate change in a big way. Look — the fact th…
[deleted]
Re: Downsides to working at a tech giant
#236Earlier quoted context omitted.
The reason why is the math changed. The gap between startup and tech giant is much larger now than it was in 2010. Also, unless you have insider access and join a very risky angel stage company, the likelihood of getting a good package that makes sense is low, very low. Also public companies have shown to get +3x gains, which can make the math even worse. Example from personal experience that is very lucky in startup…
I agree with all of the points raised, and share the same experiences. But this one: > I might as well become a founder and start my own at that point Great! So, how would you recruit your first 10 employees?
One of the things that keeps me away from startups is how disadvantaged employee equity is. Options become golden handcuffs when they have to be exercised to leave. Execs and investors are not in the same boat as employees due to preferred shares, liquidation preference, and other terms. None of these are disclosed to employees.
I've heard too many stories of start ups being sold where the founders cashed a big check and the employees didn't get anything.
To be clear, I'm not an expert in this, but the startup ecosystem needs to regain trust if it wants to hire more competitively.
Re: Downsides to working at a tech giant
#237This is such a weird post. Big fan of Garry, but I don't agree with most of this. 1. Just because it turned out that you would have made $200mm doesn't make it a mistake. If anything, that outsized return proves just how rare this kind of outcome is. If you look at the YC startups graduating every year, maybe 1 will ever generate $20mm for an early employee, let alone $200mm. Joining a new startup for that kind of ou…
Yeah, the moral of the story, as far as I can tell, is: 1) make sure to know the kind of person who can write you a $72,000 check as if he was leaving a tip at Starbucks, 2) impress him enough that he’s willing to offer you $200 million when you’re 23. I see now where I went wrong in my youth.
Surprisingly, these sorts of people are both not that rare and relatively straightforward to connect with.
A year of low level engineer’s salary is, relatively speaking, not a lot of money in our industry/society, regardless of what that figure ultimately works out to as an integer.
Re: Downsides to working at a tech giant
#238Earlier quoted context omitted.
Work at startups because you’ll work with people who have risk profiles that are much more likely to generate outsized returns as a group. This is statistically not true. S&P 500 Index funds have outperformed VC's as a group for any reasonable time period.
I can imagine this to be true but do you have a source for that information?
Re: Downsides to working at a tech giant
#239This is cherry picking.
We all have heaps of extermely valuable opportunities: the trick is to pick the right one. He is using hindsight to pick the best. However we don’t have that future information when an opportunity passes us by.
Any longtime HN readers had the bitcoin opportunity pass us by. Much better since it doesn’t require hideous life-force investment (our own life time).
$200MM also includes an implicit lie that he would still own 1% after dilution. Garry: what equity were you offered?
Re: Downsides to working at a tech giant
#240The pessimism in this thread really bothers me. I’ve read anecdotes on entrepreneurship being on the decline, but it pains me to read so many negative takes on startups. We’re actively training our young people to avoid taking risks, and it’s going to fuck us — especially if some of those young people have the ambition be early employees at, say, a startup that takes on climate change in a big way. Look — the fact th…
Thanks! There are ways to work on ideas without sacrificing one's own life. And this can involve working in a small group that people will call a startup. There is no reason to enter into abusive relationships or sacrifice being paid, IMO. I also think though some tech salaries are really high and an ok salary from a startup that keeps you alive + lets you work on your own product vs. being told what to do is really nice. I mean if more people did that we may even have less of an income disparity between tech and all other jobs in any given geographical region.