Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Working for a startup makes less sense

zainamro.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

271–280 of 392 posts

Re: Working for a startup makes less sense

#271

Post by buboard »

jandrewrogers wrote: post #125

I've had a related discussion with a few VCs in recent months. Some kinds of startups are effectively impossible to build given current structural constraints on financing them, creating an adverse selection for startups that fit the classic model rather than startups with the highest expected ROI. Broadly speaking, engineers will work at a discount to market-clearing wages of maybe 20% if they really like the startu…

> Some kinds of startups are effectively impossible to build given current structural constraints on financing them

what are those startups? asking for a friend

Re: Working for a startup makes less sense

#272

Post by [deleted] »

streetcat1 wrote: post #187
AndrewKemendo wrote: post #177

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is a good summation of the current challenges with startups that are attempting to compete on technical merit. I know this first hand as I started a computer vision company right around 2012 when the "AI" boom was really picking up steam. I would never dream today of starting a very technical company because every major will poach your talent (happened to me), invest in your competitors or attempt to acquire you…

So there are actually three tech revolutions going on in parallel: 1) Kuberentes 2) Microservices. 3) AI All of them are based on open source, and all of them are permissionless (I.e. the startup does not need permission from a big company, e.g. an app store owner). They also erode the build-in advantages of big tech: 1) Kubernetes erode cloud lock-in on compute/storage. 2) AI is best serve on the edge. I would say t…

[deleted]

Re: Working for a startup makes less sense

#273

Post by [deleted] »

buzzkillington wrote: post #194
streetcat1 wrote: post #187

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So there are actually three tech revolutions going on in parallel: 1) Kuberentes 2) Microservices. 3) AI All of them are based on open source, and all of them are permissionless (I.e. the startup does not need permission from a big company, e.g. an app store owner). They also erode the build-in advantages of big tech: 1) Kubernetes erode cloud lock-in on compute/storage. 2) AI is best serve on the edge. I would say t…

Kubernetes is a solution worse than the problem. Microservices are unix pipes but slower. AI is linear algebra that costs x1000 because of the brand name. There is no revolution in software. We are just building crud as high and as fast as we can because the quality of developers tends to zero as the number of developers increases.

[deleted]

Re: Working for a startup makes less sense

#274

Post by aledalgrande »

Alex3917 wrote: post #169
czbond wrote: post #144

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you'd like to share, I'm interested in the types.....

I would just look at successful bootstrapped startups that didn't have traction for 4+ years after the last pivot. E.g. Global Relay, Mailchimp, Bubble.is, ProfitWell, etc. And I wouldn't count something like Kickstartr, which took seven years to launch but only because the founder was non-technical.

DuckDuckGo

Re: Working for a startup makes less sense

#275

Post by bumblebee4 »

jandrewrogers wrote: post #125

I've had a related discussion with a few VCs in recent months. Some kinds of startups are effectively impossible to build given current structural constraints on financing them, creating an adverse selection for startups that fit the classic model rather than startups with the highest expected ROI. Broadly speaking, engineers will work at a discount to market-clearing wages of maybe 20% if they really like the startu…

Imagine Steve Jobs having to pay Steve Wozniak. The trick of the startup is that the key engineers are the founders.

Startups are not a place for an MBA to get engineers for free but a place for engineers to make bank if their egghead managers in their corporations don't get going with an interesting business idea of which they know that it is a missed opportunity.

Re: Working for a startup makes less sense

#276

Post by throwawaybbb »

EdwardDiego wrote: post #259
pnako wrote: post #235

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How much data do your "data pipeline apps" process with Kafka, Kubernetes and probably other K-named things?

Several terabytes a day, but it varies, hence why I love the auto-scaling.

That's 10tb = 10000gb = 10000/24/60/60 = .11gb/s. My 2015 desktop could handle that.

Where do you work? I'd like to pitch my radical idea of edge consolidated cloud computing.

Re: Working for a startup makes less sense

#277

Post by aledalgrande »

techsin101 wrote: post #227
jandrewrogers wrote: post #125

I've had a related discussion with a few VCs in recent months. Some kinds of startups are effectively impossible to build given current structural constraints on financing them, creating an adverse selection for startups that fit the classic model rather than startups with the highest expected ROI. Broadly speaking, engineers will work at a discount to market-clearing wages of maybe 20% if they really like the startu…

Open source technology that requires 500k skills so all can share in cost

I don't like this "make money on the back of others" philosophy.

Re: Working for a startup makes less sense

#278

Post by fulafel »

throwawaybbb wrote: post #276
EdwardDiego wrote: post #259

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Several terabytes a day, but it varies, hence why I love the auto-scaling.

That's 10tb = 10000gb = 10000/24/60/60 = .11gb/s. My 2015 desktop could handle that. Where do you work? I'd like to pitch my radical idea of edge consolidated cloud computing.

"Big data" frameworks are very good at throwing a lot of hardware at problems. See eg the classic big data vs laptop treatment: http://www.frankmcsherry.org/graph/scalability/cost/2015/01/...

Re: Working for a startup makes less sense

#279

Post by slyall »

twblalock wrote: post #252
avl999 wrote: post #64

It has always been mindboggling to me that startups are still so all in on the Bay Area. Most problems mentioned in the article go away if/when you are willing to staff developers in an area that is not as ridiculous in terms of cost of living as the Bay area. According to StackExchange data, the 50th percentile pay for a Full Stack Developer with a Bachelors degree and 3 years experience (a profile that would seem r…

The Bay Area offers software engineers a career growth trajectory that other places simply don't. That $140k number might be a reasonable 50th percentile for what a junior engineer would make at a startup in the Bay Area, but compensation can increase quite a bit after several years in the industry, especially for engineers who move to large companies which give stock compensation. They will far outpace the earnings…

That makes things look even better for St Louis and Minneapolis type places. Startups in BA can't even hire juniors for $140k while if they pay $100k in St Louis they will have people jumping at a chance.

Now I'm sure the BA people average better but somebody in the top 5% from St Louis is going to be pretty good.

Note: I'm from Auckland, New Zealand and $US 100k would be a very good salary.

Re: Working for a startup makes less sense

#280

Post by tluyben2 »

jandrewrogers wrote: post #125

I've had a related discussion with a few VCs in recent months. Some kinds of startups are effectively impossible to build given current structural constraints on financing them, creating an adverse selection for startups that fit the classic model rather than startups with the highest expected ROI. Broadly speaking, engineers will work at a discount to market-clearing wages of maybe 20% if they really like the startu…

I know a lot of very good people who would take a very substantial (well over 20%) pay cut if being allowed to work (mostly) remotely (+ equity if it's a startup). Especially the senior engineers (like myself) I know really consider taking or did take very early retirement over having to commute any longer.
Post reply on HN