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Benefits matter, or why I won't work for your Y Combinator startup

mhalligan.com

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Re: Benefits matter, or why I won't work for your Y Combinator startup

#171

Post by rayiner »

coolsunglasses wrote: post #30
edent wrote: post #23

From a UK perspective - this post is nuts! I've worked with a few London based startups (and interviewed for several). Holiday 28 days minimum - as per law https://www.gov.uk/holiday-entitlement-rights/entitlement Rarely offered health care but - for all its flaws - our National Health Service is pretty good. Shares - yup, they're almost always going to be worthless. Pension - every company has offered me at least 5%…

Things the UK lacks: A culture that promotes self-actualization and risk-taking at the expense of your family or future family. YC Centralized (location) and relatively easy to access angel money. Don't talk to me about the VC in London, nobody cares. It's an insider's club. I can walk out the door today and start bumping my side project for seed money (Mountain View). I can't do that in London. Strong culture of ent…

> Don't talk to me about the VC in London, nobody cares. It's an insider's club. I can walk out the door today and start bumping my side project for seed money (Mountain View). I can't do that in London.

Silicon Valley VC money is a tiny speck compared to the money flowing through the capital markets of The City. So that begs the question: why is it harder to just walk out the door and round up seed money in London?

Re: Benefits matter, or why I won't work for your Y Combinator startup

#172

Post by khuey »

apalmer wrote: post #65

He makes a pretty good argument really. You don't run a successful business with the mindset of 'i shouldn't be entitled', i have no idea why an employee shouldnt have the same mindset. Capitalism, your supposed to go after every tangible benefit possible, and minimize every cost possible. How folks plan to run a business that way and yet feel its 'entitlement' for an employee to do the same thing is weird to me.

Everyone wants capitalism to apply to their inflows and not to their outflows.

Re: Benefits matter, or why I won't work for your Y Combinator startup

#173

Post by khuey »

seeingfurther wrote: post #46
potatolicious wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> "Startup employees haven't risked as much but their risk is compensated with appropriate equity the earlier they join and the more risk they take on in the form of lower salary and benefits." This is the part where we wave our hands and drop a smoke bomb. You're theoretically right, but it never works out that way. For all intents and purposes, in the current state of the tech economy, there is no inherent risk to…

Well if it's a smoke bomb... let's change it. I agree with you there. I'm a current founder and my first 10 employees are going to get a hell of a lot more than .5%

Are they going to have anti-dilution protection?

Re: Benefits matter, or why I won't work for your Y Combinator startup

#174

Post by epoxyhockey »

edent wrote: post #23

From a UK perspective - this post is nuts! I've worked with a few London based startups (and interviewed for several). Holiday 28 days minimum - as per law https://www.gov.uk/holiday-entitlement-rights/entitlement Rarely offered health care but - for all its flaws - our National Health Service is pretty good. Shares - yup, they're almost always going to be worthless. Pension - every company has offered me at least 5%…

Aren't the salaries in the UK horrendously low? The March Who is Hiring had a job in the UK with a 22-24K salary range. Source: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5305245

Re: Benefits matter, or why I won't work for your Y Combinator startup

#175

Post by guptaneil »

pg wrote: post #133

This entire thesis is a red herring. I doubt we've ever had a conversation with a startup about what sort of benefits they should offer. Since the startups in a position to hire lots of people will presumably have raised money from later stage investors, if anyone is giving them advice about this, it would probably be them. FWIW, if anyone did ask my advice about what benefits to offer, I'd tell them to err on the si…

I'd argue that being less generous with benefits is a good filter for hiring candidates that are genuinely interested in what the startup's doing (which is crucial in early employees) rather than somebody who's just looking for another job, like the author.

Edit: To clarify, there is huge difference between offering no benefits and offering fewer benefits than a large company. I'm not advocating treating employees like crap. I'm saying that there is a potential benefit to startups who don't try to compete on monetary benefits. Startups should provide as many benefits as possible, but not worry about competing with the financial packages that a large company can provide.

Also, if you disagree, please give your reasoning below. Downvoting to show disagreement just seems lazy.

Re: Benefits matter, or why I won't work for your Y Combinator startup

#176

Post by richardking »

coolsunglasses wrote: post #149
richardking wrote: post #142

Earlier quoted context omitted.

can you really 'come and go as you please' if you are a contractor, or even if you are working on your own thing?

I do.

how long have you been contracting/how many clients have you had? imo, working for client is way, way worse (in terms of how rewarding and interesting the work is, and work flexibility) than working for a company. but hey, if you enjoy it...

Re: Benefits matter, or why I won't work for your Y Combinator startup

#177

Post by mikeg8 »

vnorby wrote: post #51

I don't think it's fair to bunch all 400+ Y Combinator companies together like this. You'll probably find good and bad benefits packages with the same frequency across all small startups. Y Combinator certainly does not get their hands dirty in the operational, HR, or recruitment strategies of their funded companies; that's really up to the founders. Perhaps what you want to say is that you don't like the benefits pa…

Best response I've seen. Right on the money

Re: Benefits matter, or why I won't work for your Y Combinator startup

#178

Post by rocky1138 »

tlrobinson wrote: post #122

"Most of them are children fresh out of college" Who's the child here?

I was thinking the same. It's very dangerous to a career to come right out and say such a thing. What happens if he ends up working for another YC company? His employers will know how he feels about them and it could hurt relations.

Re: Benefits matter, or why I won't work for your Y Combinator startup

#179

Post by rhc2104 »

rdl wrote: post #118

I 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…

I believe companies do not offer ginormous 401k matching because 401k plans can't be too "top-heavy". So for that to work, the less compensated at the company have to contribute a lot.

http://www.irs.gov/Retirement-Plans/Plan-Sponsor/401(k)-Reso...

Other employer contributions. If the plan document permits, the employer can make additional contributions (other than matching contributions) for participants, including participants who choose not to contribute elective deferrals to the 401(k) plan. If the 401(k) plan is top-heavy, the employer may be required to make minimum contributions on behalf of certain employees. In general, a plan is top-heavy if the account balances of key employees exceed 60% of the account balances of all employees. The rules relating to the determination of whether a plan is top-heavy are complex. Please refer to section 1.416-1 of the Income Tax Regulations for the rules describing how to determine whether a plan is top-heavy.

NOTE: I am not an accountant or lawyer.

Re: Benefits matter, or why I won't work for your Y Combinator startup

#180

Post by kevingibbon »

guptaneil wrote: post #175
pg wrote: post #133

This entire thesis is a red herring. I doubt we've ever had a conversation with a startup about what sort of benefits they should offer. Since the startups in a position to hire lots of people will presumably have raised money from later stage investors, if anyone is giving them advice about this, it would probably be them. FWIW, if anyone did ask my advice about what benefits to offer, I'd tell them to err on the si…

I'd argue that being less generous with benefits is a good filter for hiring candidates that are genuinely interested in what the startup's doing (which is crucial in early employees) rather than somebody who's just looking for another job, like the author. Edit: To clarify, there is huge difference between offering no benefits and offering fewer benefits than a large company. I'm not advocating treating employees li…

If your startup is well funded you should offer these benefits. You should want to reward the people who work so hard for you.

These benefits also make an employees life easier, giving them more time to spend on your precious startup.

There are other ways to weed out the "another job" candidates.

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