How do you attract smart people to work at your startup?

But the "if they turn out to be an idiot it's easy enough to get rid of them" is a big bonus for smart people. I've left contracts and jobs because the people around me weren't smart enough, or ambitious enough, to be doing the job they were hired to do, and yet they weren't cut loose. I don't want to screw around on a job where I know great things aren't going to come out the other end.

It may be hard to grasp everything everyone on the team is doing, and to know whether they're great at what they do (particularly if the project is large and has many individual pieces), but if you find yourself doing more work because of stupid stuff one of your team-mates is doing, it's a good sign that something isn't right. I don't know any great developer that enjoys that.

I've been wondering for a while how much of a disadvantage I am in terms of getting an internship like this because I am not in the co-op program (besides advice and employment courses), as an employer do you give this much thought? (sorry to go off topic; I have talked to students about this but I figured I should jump at the chance to ask an actual employer.)

By the way, any chance you will be at BarCamp?

i bet that person feels very loved right now.

1) A chance to work with great people. This is by far the most important thing. And since a startup typically has only a few people, the chances of one of them being 'not great' is pretty small, as there is no room to hide.

2) The idea has to be in an area that appeals to me (opportunity cost of working on something that isn't interesting should be considered).

3) The work environment - this goes back to 1) again. More clearly, working with smart people who you actually like hanging out with would be ideal.

Perks and stuff doesn't really matter. The salary should be competitive, but I wouldn't really care 10-20% either way if the above conditions were satisfied. But at such an early hire level, a good chunk of equity would be a must (perhaps not for an intern, but something to think of if/when you decide to bring them on full time).

However, a lot of companies that post jobs at UW also post them online. RIM for example hires hundreds of students from UW every term and their entire application process is online so you're probably not at a disadvantage there. Microsoft has their recruiting sessions here every few days it seems, so just attend one of those and hand out your resume. Now that Google has a branch in town just attend one of their sessions too.

If you're specifically looking to work for a startup, your best bet is to look up companies in the Accelerator Center (north campus, in the Research and Technology park.) There are about 15 startups there now. Terrapath and SuitedMedia are on a hiring binge, so just walk in there and talk to the president, you'll probably have a job on the spot. Don't be afraid, the guys there are all only a few years older than you, so don't feel intimidated at the prospect of just coming in and talking to the boss :)