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Memoirs from a Disgruntled MBA

rippleq.blogspot.com

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Re: Memoirs from a Disgruntled MBA

#31

Post by trussi »

andrewstuart wrote: post #23
trussi wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Any developer that can't get a job in this market isn't a developer you want to recruit. The only place for good talent is other companies. How are you finding technical talent without recruiting people out of other companies?

You misunderstand me - I don't mean that you should be recruiting people who do not work at a company. I mean that standing out the front door of another company (physically or virtually) and trying to poach them is not very effective. You are far better off recruiting from people who are actively looking for a job, and who are applying for jobs through job boards and other mechanisms of applying for work. Plenty of…

I think you underestimate the power of the monkey suit! :)

Good point, though.

I made the assumption he was already milking traditional recruiting channels (monster.com) without any success.

However, I'd guess most people who are using traditional recruiting channels aren't going to be in a financial position to work for a bootstrapped startup. It would only be people currently employed and looking for another job that would be eligible.

Have you actually found startup talent for bootstrapped startups using traditional recruiting methods?

Re: Memoirs from a Disgruntled MBA

#32

Post by andrewstuart »

trussi wrote: post #31
andrewstuart wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You misunderstand me - I don't mean that you should be recruiting people who do not work at a company. I mean that standing out the front door of another company (physically or virtually) and trying to poach them is not very effective. You are far better off recruiting from people who are actively looking for a job, and who are applying for jobs through job boards and other mechanisms of applying for work. Plenty of…

I think you underestimate the power of the monkey suit! :) Good point, though. I made the assumption he was already milking traditional recruiting channels (monster.com) without any success. However, I'd guess most people who are using traditional recruiting channels aren't going to be in a financial position to work for a bootstrapped startup. It would only be people currently employed and looking for another job th…

>>>>Have you actually found startup talent for bootstrapped startups using traditional recruiting methods?

Yes, I do this all the time and have found many great people for startups. It is a fallacy that great people are not looking for work through traditional methods such as job boards. Many people seem to think you can only recruit them via social networking or poaching or something.

Re: Memoirs from a Disgruntled MBA

#34

Post by jacques_chester »

clownz0r wrote: post #22
thinkcomp wrote: post #11

My views on MBAs notwithstanding, anyone with a Stanford degree should know the difference between "haven" and "having."

The first "haven" tripped me up until I read the rest of the sentence and realized that he meant "having". How do you get that wrong 3 times in a row?

He's just spelling outside the box.

Re: Memoirs from a Disgruntled MBA

#35

Post by fractalcat »

(cross-posted from the blog's comments - didn't realise they're hidden by default)

Just a few comments (from a developer/entrepreneur's perspective):

> I hate asking around for help.

We all do. Asking is hard. But if you're aiming to be a successful entrepreneur, you will have to do things that take you outside your comfort zone. That's the whole point. Bite the bullet, swallow your pride.

> There are so many job boards and most of them are useless.

Yep, that's exactly right. Don't use them. If you want to find great developers (and you're not Google), nine times out of ten you're going to have to do the legwork yourself.

> “I’m looking too. If I found a good software developer, I’d take him. Sorry!” Not cool.

That sounds fair enough to me. Good developers are, as you've discovered, rare. If they're putting the work in, they deserve the payoff - why should they give up a potentially valuable employee just because you asked?

The common theme here seems to be that yes, building a company from the ground up is really hard, and it's a ton of (sometimes frustrating and thankless) work. If you have faith in your company's ability to succeed, you need to do whatever's necessary to get them there.

Re: Memoirs from a Disgruntled MBA

#37

Post by wushupork »

trussi wrote: post #31
andrewstuart wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You misunderstand me - I don't mean that you should be recruiting people who do not work at a company. I mean that standing out the front door of another company (physically or virtually) and trying to poach them is not very effective. You are far better off recruiting from people who are actively looking for a job, and who are applying for jobs through job boards and other mechanisms of applying for work. Plenty of…

I think you underestimate the power of the monkey suit! :) Good point, though. I made the assumption he was already milking traditional recruiting channels (monster.com) without any success. However, I'd guess most people who are using traditional recruiting channels aren't going to be in a financial position to work for a bootstrapped startup. It would only be people currently employed and looking for another job th…

I think you just want to see an MBA in a monkey suit :)

Re: Memoirs from a Disgruntled MBA

#38

Post by llnimetz »

You guys sure are tough, but I kind of expected it by putting 'MBA' in the title of my post. I can't blame many of you for disliking MBAs. MBA graduate programs are a vestigial product of the industrial era where an aristocratic group of elite were given the reins to control (a.k.a. manage) the workers and get them to do the work. That pisses me off as much as the next guy. Nonetheless, for those of us trying to build post-industrial open enterprises (check out www.Worldblu.org for a glimpse of what I'm talking about) it's also hard to argue against the fact that good management is an important part of any successful enterprise. Just as the stereotype of engineers as nerdy, socially awkward introverts is not true neither is that of the MBA stereotype. For example, I play squash not golf, and I wear penny loafers never argyle sweaters (read: this is a tongue and cheek comment, meaning it's not true but written solely for comic effect and perhaps -- if I'm going to be completely honest-- as a slight dig back at those of you who felt entitled to stereotype me unfairly). I read over my post and can totally understand some of your comments, particularly from readers who didn't catch the sarcasm. I don't actually think Google is evil for paying its engineer a lot. I have a ton of respect for Google: in fact I have a lot of friends working there and Eric Schmidt taught us at Stanford.) The important point in my blog was that we've done a good job to date boot-strapping rippleQ to identify a market need, to build a cool product (iterating a lot along the way) and, most recently, to sell to a number of enterprise customers. We're poised to raise a series A round now too. In other words, we're doing all the right things but struggle to find top web developers because the demand is already so high in the valley. It's obviously difficult for everybody (e.g. companies are advertising on road-side billboards now to attract engineers!). I've continued to receive great advice on how to reach out to recruit great engineers (and we're talking with a number of engineers now -- thank you to those who referred people!), but I thought I'd just rant a bit out loud, and I guess I thought (perhaps mistakenly) that out of my rants an awesome developer would fall out of the sky, contacting me interested in learning more about rippleQ. Some entrepreneurs wear monkey suits, I write disgruntled emails that poke fun at myself and MBAs!

Re: Memoirs from a Disgruntled MBA

#39

Post by llnimetz »

trussi wrote: post #16

Wow, I read this. Tried to forget it. But it annoyed me so much I had to respond...just so I can get it out of my mind and get back to work. I tried to be as constructive as possible in my criticism...but reader beware... -----The Constructive Part------ Let me help you find your code monkeys. First, stop spending any time at meetups and hackathons. That would only make sense if you were a technical person looking to…

I apologize for annoying you so much and do appreciate your comments! I have a couple comments: 1) We have to make sure our current five customers are happy before expanding to new customers. It's for that reason we're pulling back our sales.. not BSing and no sweaters (the product is built, and I do all the requirements and wire-frames). 2) I don't think we're being cheap on our compensation package but, as an enterprise software platform pre-series A, we're just not getting the buzz needed to attract talent more easily. Traditionally employee development and training is not the most exciting space for developers but that's exactly why it's a huge opportunity now as we introduce game and social mechanics. Again... appreciate the constructive comments and any additional thoughts.

Re: Memoirs from a Disgruntled MBA

#40

Post by llnimetz »

jcampbell1 wrote: post #27
edj wrote: post #25

1. Google and the other big boyz talk a big game about doing no evil, but giving out huge salaries and signing bonuses to attract the best talent is just plain evil from my vantage-point. This is parody, right?

Yes, I think the tone is meant to be lighthearted. Though from the rest of the comments on hacker news, I think the author missed the mark.

(yes, tried to be lighthearted and definitely missed the mark!)
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