angryasian speaks the truth. Different priorities for different people. If you want their talent, cater to their priorities.
Benefits matter, or why I won't work for your Y Combinator startup
121–130 of 360 posts
Re: Benefits matter, or why I won't work for your Y Combinator startup
#122"Most of them are children fresh out of college"
Who's the child here?
Re: Benefits matter, or why I won't work for your Y Combinator startup
#123Earlier quoted context omitted.
It's his tone which comes off as entitled to me. Very, very entitled. He sounds like one cocky dude to me. Let's all take a moment to reflect on a few things. For instance, we are pretty lucky to be passionate about something which just happens to be pretty good at producing a lot of monetary value for companies, and consequently it's not too hard for us to convince companies to pay us a lot and give us great benefit…
In the words of Clint Eastwood's character in Unforgiven: "'Deserve's got nothin' to do with it" ( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dpDkYZWeeVg ) I'm "entitled" to a market rate. I'm also "entitled" to negotiate for the highest rate the market will bear.
I think the fact that you knew you had to put entitled in quotes in your post shows that you're not really talking about the same thing as me. I agree with you, of course, that people should be paid the market rate for what they do or bring to the table.
This is one of those cases where a word has multiple definitions. And, as it happens, for one of the definitions of "entitled," the one I'm interested in, well, "deserve's got everythin' to do with it." From Merriam-Webster: "belief that one is deserving of certain privileges."
Re: Benefits matter, or why I won't work for your Y Combinator startup
#124From the Author's bio: "I'm just this guy who used to enjoy tech, now I would rather build bicycles. I still work in the tech industry, for the money, but I no longer call myself a "technologist"." So points well made that a guy with children, in mid-career, and without much of a passion for the field he's working in finds a Y-Combinator offer to be less compelling than a more traditional package. But I'm not sure wh…
Listen, I know that once we turn forty we're all put out to pasture in the Great Programmer Iceberg and left to fend for ourselves but: I think the takeaway is, you're not building something sustainable if you can't attract people with kids. Kids are a very natural and common lifecycle event for people over the age of 25. In terms of dollars and cents, the notion that you're building a team of "world class talent" th…
Not to mention the huge and underserved market for people with kids, grandkids etc. Now I like startup culture or I wouldn't have been on HN so long, but in all the excitement and hipness of disrupting things, it's easy to forget that there's a large number of people who are not interested in that attitude, but want products that help to stabilize or enhance their life.
Marketing to these people is basically selling to the tortoise rather than the hare [1], and success in doing so probably means building that attitude from the inside out.Tortoises aren't very exciting to look at, but there are a lot of them and they are pretty successful in evolutionary terms. So don't grudge them their lettuce.
Re: Benefits matter, or why I won't work for your Y Combinator startup
#125Here's what a good benefits package looks like from a company who cares about attracting senior employees, and not just college kids: - Agreement to pay for 3 conferences per year(Surge, Velocity, and ChefConf), an $18k/year benefit - $2500/year FSA, Employer funded - 401k, 5% match. (II end up with $24,750/year in my 401K plan) - Full health insurance for myself and my daughter, no Premium - Health club membership -…
I've worked for 3 startups in Portland that offered those benefits. I now work remotely for a Fortune 100 that gives me a major portion of those benefits, plus a higher salary. It can be done, my Portland-based comrade. I'll buy you a beer sometime if you like.
I can see one or two of those things being covered but even 30 days of PTO? That's 6 weeks per year that you won't be in the office. Portland (OR), USA, right? Not Portland, Spain/France/Norway? :P
Re: Benefits matter, or why I won't work for your Y Combinator startup
#126From the Author's bio: "I'm just this guy who used to enjoy tech, now I would rather build bicycles. I still work in the tech industry, for the money, but I no longer call myself a "technologist"." So points well made that a guy with children, in mid-career, and without much of a passion for the field he's working in finds a Y-Combinator offer to be less compelling than a more traditional package. But I'm not sure wh…
I guess the point of his post is the YC companies are only attractive to some one below 25 years of age with no family to care about. That would mean the YC companies are all looking for the few talented below 25 yr old people.
Re: Benefits matter, or why I won't work for your Y Combinator startup
#127"That $375k would then be subject to 63% taxes, netting me $138,750, or a 20% down-payment on my piece of the american dream. The other company does the right thing, so I only see a 15% capital gains tax"
A bit of an aside but could someone elaborate on this? Is the OP referring to an 83(b) election? If so, isn't that his responsibility (of course, the company should advise him to do this). Or is this referring to something else?
At any rate, my impression is that there would be California taxes as well on that income, bringing the taxes well above 15%.
Re: Benefits matter, or why I won't work for your Y Combinator startup
#128The problem here I think is the disparity between being the last cofounder (15-30% equity before dilution typically) and being the first employee (1-2%) vs working for a more established company. If you compare the compensation for being an early employee in such a startup with working for an established company (eg Google, Facebook) then I think you'll find the employee of the latter will be better off in the long t…
> Startups aren't for financial security. They are for the frontiermen who are hoping to strike it rich in the gold rush. Most don't but some do.
I think you mean "Founding a startup is for the frontiermen..." Being an employee is not. Being an employee is a losing proposition far more often than the 95% you cited.
Re: Benefits matter, or why I won't work for your Y Combinator startup
#129I don't think benefits are the main reason to work anywhere -- doing meaningful work and working with great people far exceeds financial benefit, and salary/bonus/equity should dominate fringe benefits. However, why do benefits packages need to be uniform? I personally hate having "benefits" in my compensation which come out of my salary which I don't really want. Sometimes companies get tax savings (i.e. they can de…
>doing meaningful work and working with great people
overall this is true, but its as rare as a finding an employee like the one in the article to accept accept below market rates and less than stellar benefits.
Re: Benefits matter, or why I won't work for your Y Combinator startup
#130Earlier quoted context omitted.
It all depends. Dilution is a real killer. You may have 0.5% today, but what about after Series B? Or, heaven forbid, a down-round? Even if you sustained no dilution, 0.5% of $100M is only $500K. Don't get me wrong, $500K is nice, but by no means is that life-changing money.
$500k is life-changing money, but not FU-money. You think that not having to worry about rent and food and medical bills wouldn't change your life?
It isn't even life-changing money. It's most of a house here in Seattle, or a quarter of a house in the valley. That's nice, but not life-changing.