Ask HN: How should I evaluate a startup as I job hunt? • Hacker News Board

Re: Ask HN: How should I evaluate a startup as I job hunt?

#41

Post by aballai » Sun, Aug 05, 2012, 7:35 AM UTC

1. Trust - Do you trust the cofounders to bring in the team necessary to build the machine that is the business?

2. Culture - Is this a culture where you can grow?

3. Belief - Do you clearly believe the value proposition the company is trying to build?

4. Pay - Will you be comfortable at that pay for ~3 years while you help build the machine?

5. Investment - Will the equity trade be worth your time, roughly ~4-10 years?

If you can answer the questions above, you'll be way ahead of most people when evaluating startups. These are the things that went through my mind when I ditched a larger company for a little unknown startup at Pier 38 which now has become +100 people with an amazing product. I haven't left and its been 3 years. I still trust, believe, and comfortable enough to keep moving along.

Re: Ask HN: How should I evaluate a startup as I job hunt?

#42

Post by arkem » Sun, Aug 05, 2012, 7:39 AM UTC

jacques_chester wrote: post #30

pg wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In a tough job market, I agree that would be an important factor to consider. But it's not a tough job market for hackers now, to put it mildly. I've never seen such demand for hackers. A good hacker who wanted to ditch a dying startup today could find a new job more or less instantly.

This is not universally true. I for example cannot leave Perth, Australia. I'm doing the startup boogie from here. And there aren't many dance partners. So the dynamics of hiring in Silicon Valley, Seattle and New York hold about as much validity for me as the far side of the moon. (Wherein I partially sink my own argument).

Having moved from Perth to Silicon Valley I've got to second this. In Australia I'd get approached about jobs maybe every couple of months while in Silicon Valley I get approached every couple of days.

While I primarily do security rather that software, in Australia the approach would be "Are you interested in contract work for Reputable Government Agency / Mining Company / Bank?" while in Silicon Valley is "Hot new VC funded startup looking for a rockstar to secure the social local cloud!".

I'm really enjoying the difference.

Re: Ask HN: How should I evaluate a startup as I job hunt?

#43

Post by [deleted] » Sun, Aug 05, 2012, 7:58 AM UTC

pg wrote: post #21

Financially, as if you were an investor. They're the people whose job it is to evaluate startups' prospects, and they care above all about two things: the founders and the market. The founders should be relentlessly effective, and the market should ideally be of a size that can only be obtained by riding on trends beyond the startup's control (but visible to few besides the founders, or the market would already be fu…

[deleted]

Re: Ask HN: How should I evaluate a startup as I job hunt?

#44

Post by jay_kyburz » Sun, Aug 05, 2012, 8:05 AM UTC

te_chris wrote: post #32

jacques_chester wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is not universally true. I for example cannot leave Perth, Australia. I'm doing the startup boogie from here. And there aren't many dance partners. So the dynamics of hiring in Silicon Valley, Seattle and New York hold about as much validity for me as the far side of the moon. (Wherein I partially sink my own argument).

A million times this. I'm in Auckland, New Zealand and it's quite scary sometimes when you run in to people trying to pretend they're in the valley the way they run their startup. It just is not the same out here: less money, less funded startups, less startups in general, very few supporting anything more than the founders, if they even do that. SV and NYC are outliers globally.

I'm in Brisbane and I'm doing some freelance for a US start-up right now. I kind of stumbled into this work, but would like to take more of it on in future.

I think it would be great if there were some better tools for tracking and working with remote hackers. I think the virtual office is so close to becoming a reality.

Re: Ask HN: How should I evaluate a startup as I job hunt?

#45

Post by jay_kyburz » Sun, Aug 05, 2012, 8:15 AM UTC

whichdan wrote: post #3

Here are a handful off the top of my head: - Are you profitable? If so, for how long? - How long until you need another round of funding? - Are you planning on hiring more staff? If so, for what positions? - How do you gauge promotions/raises? - Who will my coworkers be? - What is the office setup like? - What hours will I be working? - How much time is spent on maintenance vs. new development? - Is your code unit te…

Don't forget to ask what will you learn or how will you grow in doing the work.

I'll often take work because I'm looking for an opportunity to learn a new tech or move strategically.

I wanted to get out of Flash and into HTML5 so I went and found a bunch of HTML work.

Where do you want to be in 2 years. Mobile, Web, Social?

Re: Ask HN: How should I evaluate a startup as I job hunt?

#46

Post by kellros » Sun, Aug 05, 2012, 9:01 AM UTC

Any startup should not just plan how to make money, but also test if their idea is feasible. As someone stated, working for startups carry a much higher degree of risk (mostly because you would be working for less $$$ and the difference you are 'investing').

It would probably be a good idea to ask yourself - are you willing to invest in this company? If you are, is it for giggles or a future?

I'd also say if you are looking to join a startup, pick one that is incubated (ex. ycombinator, google umbono etc.)

Re: Ask HN: How should I evaluate a startup as I job hunt?

#47

Post by jacques_chester » Sun, Aug 05, 2012, 9:11 AM UTC

arkem wrote: post #42

jacques_chester wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is not universally true. I for example cannot leave Perth, Australia. I'm doing the startup boogie from here. And there aren't many dance partners. So the dynamics of hiring in Silicon Valley, Seattle and New York hold about as much validity for me as the far side of the moon. (Wherein I partially sink my own argument).

Having moved from Perth to Silicon Valley I've got to second this. In Australia I'd get approached about jobs maybe every couple of months while in Silicon Valley I get approached every couple of days. While I primarily do security rather that software, in Australia the approach would be "Are you interested in contract work for Reputable Government Agency / Mining Company / Bank?" while in Silicon Valley is "Hot new…

It's funny how we hand-wring about why there's only an anemic startup culture in Australia. Leaving aside the storied legal barriers, there's the fact that the E-3 visa makes it much easier for bright Australian technologists to decamp to the USA.

Until certain developments in my life made it an impossibility, I was thinking of moving to New York. Because it's the most unalike[1] English-speaking place with a vibrant startup scene I could think of to live in.

[1] unalike from Darwin. Even Perth is a megapolis compared to that beautiful flyspeck.

Re: Ask HN: How should I evaluate a startup as I job hunt?

#48

Post by jacques_chester » Sun, Aug 05, 2012, 9:14 AM UTC

jay_kyburz wrote: post #44

te_chris wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A million times this. I'm in Auckland, New Zealand and it's quite scary sometimes when you run in to people trying to pretend they're in the valley the way they run their startup. It just is not the same out here: less money, less funded startups, less startups in general, very few supporting anything more than the founders, if they even do that. SV and NYC are outliers globally.

I'm in Brisbane and I'm doing some freelance for a US start-up right now. I kind of stumbled into this work, but would like to take more of it on in future. I think it would be great if there were some better tools for tracking and working with remote hackers. I think the virtual office is so close to becoming a reality.

> I think it would be great if there were some better tools for tracking and working with remote hackers.

I've been freelancing lately.

There are probably thousands of such tools. Pretty much every freelancer ever has cobbled one together and some substantial fraction have gone on to release it.

Pivotal Tracker not your style? Try WorkflowMax. Or briefcase. Or IMS Service Track. Or SmartBiller. Or Jobsheet. Or ProWorkflow. Or TriggerApp. Or ...

Re: Ask HN: How should I evaluate a startup as I job hunt?

#49

Post by aercolino » Sun, Aug 05, 2012, 9:21 AM UTC

whichdan wrote: post #3

Here are a handful off the top of my head: - Are you profitable? If so, for how long? - How long until you need another round of funding? - Are you planning on hiring more staff? If so, for what positions? - How do you gauge promotions/raises? - Who will my coworkers be? - What is the office setup like? - What hours will I be working? - How much time is spent on maintenance vs. new development? - Is your code unit te…

Nice list.

I just joined the first startup of my life, and, in a way or another, all of these questions were answered satisfactorily for me.

A couple of additional questions:

1- "What is the flow for making a change?" 2- "Will I be able to improve how things work here?"

A startup should be fairly open to changes. For example, if they develop without a debugger, can you use one? Will servers be updated for supporting remote debugging?

Re: Ask HN: How should I evaluate a startup as I job hunt?

#50

Post by gyardley » Sun, Aug 05, 2012, 10:32 AM UTC

I'm surprised skill development hasn't come up (or if it has, that it's not more prominent - I might have missed it in the scanning.)

This might be your first startup, but it likely won't be your last - and the skills you get from your first startup will affect the jobs you'll be able to land and the projects you'll take on in the future. So the most important factor is the details of what you'll be doing and how much doing it will make you a better programmer.

If you optimize for the startup's overall potential but spend your time there doing stuff you think is trivial, you're going to be really unhappy if the startup doesn't work out. If you optimize for challenging, enjoyable work that turns you into a programming badass, if the startup doesn't work out, you're still going to be a badass.