Just wondering if anyone out there has a similar story?
Ask HN: Are Startups Exploiting Freelancers?
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Re: Ask HN: Are Startups Exploiting Freelancers?
#2Re: Ask HN: Are Startups Exploiting Freelancers?
#3That is why you have good contracts in place.
Re: Ask HN: Are Startups Exploiting Freelancers?
#4Re: Ask HN: Are Startups Exploiting Freelancers?
#5Re: Ask HN: Are Startups Exploiting Freelancers?
#6Startups are a dicey bunch, cash flow is always "in flux". With that said, tightly covering your development with staged hours AND/OR deliverables and stopping development completely when payments are missed can help alleviate some loss.
Re: Ask HN: Are Startups Exploiting Freelancers?
#7Even with a written contract, as an individual freelancer it probably isn't worth your time and money to lawyer up and try to collect.
There's only one way to make sure the bill never gets too big. Once the amount owed reaches a certain amount, refuse to do any more work until you get paid. Ideally, you're working on an arrangement where you get paid every 2 weeks. Then, the most you can lose per client is 3-4 weeks' salary.
Re: Ask HN: Are Startups Exploiting Freelancers?
#8That is why you have good contracts in place.
There are contracts but no money. There's nothing to retrieve.. yet. So I'm stuck waiting for them to make money or raise.
Re: Ask HN: Are Startups Exploiting Freelancers?
#9Re: Ask HN: Are Startups Exploiting Freelancers?
#10That is why you have good contracts in place.
There are contracts but no money. There's nothing to retrieve.. yet. So I'm stuck waiting for them to make money or raise.
This isn't limited to startups though. I've seen a medium sized company stonewall on payments until the freelancer in question was willing to settle for 20%-30% of the agreed upon price simply to recover something for the time they invested in the project. This was a negotiating tactic for them and when it didn't work they would pay whatever interest rate was agreed upon in the contract, which was often nothing.