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No meetings, no deadlines, no full-time employees

sahillavingia.com

1–10 of 543 posts

Re: No meetings, no deadlines, no full-time employees

#2
anti-overtime, interesting!

> We also have an “anti-overtime” rate: past twenty hours a week, people can continue to work at an hourly rate of 50 percent. This allows us to have a high hourly rate for the highest leverage work and also allows people to work more per week if they wish.

Re: No meetings, no deadlines, no full-time employees

#3
This is maybe the only “how we work” I’ve ever read that is actually appealing. It really does sound wonderful.

My only question is around health insurance for the US based folks (I’m guessing the answer is “take the money we pay you and go buy some” which is unfortunately not a good solution) but otherwise yes, sounds ideal.

Re: No meetings, no deadlines, no full-time employees

#4
I've been a Gumroad user(consumer not creator) for a long time and remember the whole VC situation. At the time, I feared it might be the end of the service. I'm glad it wasn't. A lot of people want companies like Google or Tesla, however, my honest goal in life is to have a company like Gumroad.

Re: No meetings, no deadlines, no full-time employees

#6
post #5

I wonder if the VCs now regret just giving the company back to the founder who lost their money. $11m revenue growing this fast is a lot.

I don't think they would, since I don't think Gumroad is growing at any VCs' expected pace, even though they're doing well

Re: No meetings, no deadlines, no full-time employees

#7
post #2

anti-overtime, interesting! > We also have an “anti-overtime” rate: past twenty hours a week, people can continue to work at an hourly rate of 50 percent. This allows us to have a high hourly rate for the highest leverage work and also allows people to work more per week if they wish.

I feel like this is only possible once the product and product-market fit have been established; the fire has started burning on its own and you can start stepping back and just stoke the fire

Re: No meetings, no deadlines, no full-time employees

#8
TL;DR The founder of Gumroad fired all his employees and replaced some with and rehired some on contract. Gumroad does not provide benefits like healthcare. Your hourly rate gets cut cut in half after you work more than 20 hours a week.

The article is a nice way of saying that the founder largely just collects rent while putting minimal resources into the business.

Re: No meetings, no deadlines, no full-time employees

#10
post #2

anti-overtime, interesting! > We also have an “anti-overtime” rate: past twenty hours a week, people can continue to work at an hourly rate of 50 percent. This allows us to have a high hourly rate for the highest leverage work and also allows people to work more per week if they wish.

Quick note from my HR friends: beware that there may be local labor laws that conflict with this scheme.
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