81–90 of 90 posts
No one is saying that startups are for everyone. People just say that they're undervalued. The upside is ignored (probably because of scope insensitivity [http://wiki.lesswrong.com/wiki/Scope_insensitivity]), and the risks are misunderstood.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Who on earth wants banking hours (I'm assuming you're referencing the hours that were outlined in recent articles on HN)? I work in a bank and we're forced to not work anywhere beyond 37.5 or they're liable.. Anyways, I went on trial at one of the few startups that offered to hire me as a contractor. The hours were truly insane. Developers practically lived there, which is why I think startup offices are so much more…
"Banker's hours" or "banking hours" is a longstanding U.S. idiom for very short days. It comes from a time when retail bank lobbies were only open from, say, 10:00am to 2:00pm, Monday through Thursday. I'm exaggerating slightly for effect, but probably not much. Going to the bank used to be a highly inconvenient thing for people who worked jobs that did not let them pop out for an errand whenever they felt like it (m…
What the article fails to mention, and I think is just as important, is that the RELATIVE risk of the startup lifestyle continues to decline as traditional, "stable" jobs slowly become a thing of the past. I'm part of a small (but growing) freelancer agency, and when I try to convince others to join my firm, relative risk is a large part of my pitch.
When the "safe" option is to work at a bank or consulting firm, is it really all that safe? Many students think so, but have to be reminded that some of these firms average less than two years of tenure per new employee. Large tech companies have been somewhat safe over the past 5-10 years, but still put you at the mercy of corporate-scale layoffs that may have more to do with your product and the company's finances than your skills.
In a startup or small company, the risks are much more upfront and come with corresponding compensation, usually in the form of equity with growth potential. Large companies typically do not reward their employees for the risk they assume, because there is a perpetuated assumption that they provide a high level of security. So if we're all forced to bear a high level of risk, at least we should be compensated for it.
"One thing that is not spoken about in the early-stage tech world is how many startup founders come from money or stability. I’m by no means saying this applies to all founders or early-stage startup employees. But if you dig a little, you will see the “risk” that some of these people are taking is not as risky as they may seem." This is really true. The business risk may be very real, but the personal risk for many…
This thinking appears all too prevalent today. Yes, the market is currently hot and experienced, talented engineers can often find new employment in a matter of days or weeks.
But the market is not static and if you assume that you will always be able to find a decent new job in a short amount of time and that your worst case scenario only entails two months of little to no income, you're overestimating the strength of the market and underestimating your risk.
As I've noted before, this type of thinking was common in the first .com boom. Then the market shifted and a lot of talented people went from having six-figure job opportunities on tap to collecting unemployment.
Bottom line: your perceived viability in the current job market is not a true safety net. Cold hard cash is.
This is an interesting perspective. However, I come for a different vantage point: I'm a terrible employee and I feel that the world worked hard to force a "corporate career path" on the wrong guy for years. Perhaps startup life should be always an anomaly because it isn't for everyone, but it's the only place I've ever felt like I was a meaningful part of meaningful work. I do think it's still underrepresented as an…
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Right. So a startup has to be about working 80 hours a week or it's not a startup?
The term "startup" doesn't intrinsically say anything about a business other than that it's new. But the discussion about "startups" on HN and in the popular press assumes it means 1) long hours 2) a bunch of young guys 3) aiming at extremely rapid growth (often measured by users, regardless of revenue) It's probably a losing battle trying to and change that use. If the shoe fits, call it a startup, otherwise just us…
Don't tie local culture to a global term.
"One thing that is not spoken about in the early-stage tech world is how many startup founders come from money or stability. I’m by no means saying this applies to all founders or early-stage startup employees. But if you dig a little, you will see the “risk” that some of these people are taking is not as risky as they may seem." This is really true. The business risk may be very real, but the personal risk for many…
Right. If I worked for a startup that went south, I'd be homeless.
One of the things we talk about a lot is how overtime and working more than 40-50 hours a week is always a management failure. We didn't raise enough money, or plan well enough, or get enough people, or understand what we were doing, etc. We work really really hard, but we make sure it's within those parameters, except in some really rare emergency scenarios. During interviews, people always look at me like I have tw…
I'm glad to read this, nemesisj. I was just reading last night the parameters for applying my startup idea for inclusion in the YC program, and was getting pretty excited that such a program exists. I'm new to actually trying to be an entrepreneur (as opposed to just thinking about it), and it is encouraging to read that your version of working more than fairly-standard full time is management failure. I agree entire…
"One thing that is not spoken about in the early-stage tech world is how many startup founders come from money or stability. I’m by no means saying this applies to all founders or early-stage startup employees. But if you dig a little, you will see the “risk” that some of these people are taking is not as risky as they may seem." This is really true. The business risk may be very real, but the personal risk for many…
It's a known tendency called the Fundamental Attribution Error.
The cool thing about starting your own business is that you can build it however you like. You can work 80 hour weeks or 10 hour weeks. Your choice. You can neglect your friends, family and health, and work yourself into the ground. Or not. Again, entirely up to you. Surprisingly, the end result will probably be roughly the same. If you're good at building software, and work in bursts like most of us do, then a few g…
The freedom is indeed one of the biggest draws but I've found that with any degree of success there is also an automatic reduction in freedom because your responsibilities go up. Hard to balance that.
It's not automatic. It's up to you to choose to what extent you want to exploit that success. If you want more freedom and less responsibility, hire less people than you can afford to, and take less contracts than are open to you. Stay small and be free, or grow big and be rich.