Ask HN: Leaving cushy job for startup (hire #1). Feed me your wisdom elder ones!
However, I need a quick education on startup culture, jargon, inspiration, and how to avoid stupid mistakes. I know next to nothing about funding, dilution, employee compensation, etc. etc.
I want to be smart about this and make good decisions. What makes your personal list of the best no bullshit books / talks one should read before embarking on ye ol' startup journey?
I have asked for a reasonable salary (same as current) + equity. The company model looks like it will either get huge (already growing + actually makes money), or crash and burn like a glorious zeppelin due to regulatory issues. I find this very exciting as it's truly disruptive(TM) in a space that needs it.
If it does fail, I want to use this as a stepping stone / learning experience for a next venture. I do not, EVER, want to go back to boring 9-5 punch in and out life. After two years at a stable big-corp job, I've decided that it is my personal version of hell on earth (and I've been through cancer! which could come back any day! -- life really is short... and I don't plan to spend any more of it in meetings with middle management or building something that I don't own a part of just to make someone else rich... you know it's bad when hospital days feel like a welcome relief from daily routine). -- I also get bored of programming unless I feel I'm building something that matters or is challenging. I don't care about being a Professional Software Engineer, I just wanna build cool risky shit and play mad scientist with smart people.
Okay, now it's your turn to tell me what to shove into my brain before embarking on this journey (preferably in book or video talk form).
13 comments
[ 3.4 ms ] story [ 41.6 ms ] threadStartups have a reputation of running developers into the ground. Corporate work, while boring at times, can be great if you want a work-life balance.
If you're going to be one of the first few hires, expect things to change as the startup fails to gain traction and the money runs out. Even if it successful, you'll probably find yourself in a management role as more people are brought in and you're the expert on the business domain (as well as the landing pages, marketing emails, CRUD apps, account details, etc.).
In some ways, a solid corporate gig can be more honest. IME you get hired for a role and you do that type of work. Maybe you haven't found the right cushy corporate gig?
I would be okay with my role changing over time. Code is just another tool for turning ideas into things. I'm probably naive about some things, but one thing I'm sure of: routine is poison, comfort is overrated.
I say this because if you burn out in 4 hours doing something you find boring then you might not be able to deal with everything needed. However another common refrain is that every startup is different, so you have to decide for yourself based on your read of the startup.
One last bit of caution. If you push yourself to the wall all the time then you might not have the energy you need when the time comes where the business really needs that push. From what I've been told, and from personal experience on a number of fast paced projects, it's better to pump out a consistent 40-60 hours a week with an occasional push to 80, than it is to do 80 every week until you crash.
Do a routine of 8 hour days that slip into 10 then 12. Five day weeks that then slip into six. For a year straight and learn that amount of energy and effort still aren't guarantees of success.
Imagine putting out fires all day every day and learning how to fix things but not having time to fix it properly so you're stuck in a loop of promising to go back and fix it right but just ending up with the problems.
Imagine being put in a constant state of anxiety and fear because sales don't turn out, code don't ship, marketing doesn't hit.
Meanwhile when you check in on Facebook now and then to see what your friends with the comfortable lives are doing and realize you're missing out.
For hard work.
That doesn't guarantee anything.
Good job getting same pay and equity though. That tells me either you're really good at what you do or the people you work with have no clue what they're doing.
Keep an interesting idea of your own as a side project to do at home at nights and weekends. The startup is somebody else's idea. It may or may not be challenging to you, and it may or may not interest you after a while.
Consider that the equity represents an ownership stake in the company, you are now a junior partner responsible for its success. No longer a flunky employee. This should impact your thinking and outlook on everything.
You will find Jay Abraham's 'Getting Everything You Can Out of All You've Got' excellent food-for-thought > http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/89969.Getting_Everything_...
That said, here's a couple things I've learned the hard way to pay attention to when joining a small corp / startup:
1) Ask bout funding. Seriously. How much do they have, what's the burn rate, when do they expect to be self-sustaining (running on sales/revenue rather than seed/VC $$), how profitable are they now, is their capital tied to any contingencies (i.e. they may have "access" to $X dollars to fund the startup but only if they achieve sales figures $Y-Z w/i a certain time frame, I got burned bad by not knowing this). Know the funding situation and be cognizant of what you're getting into.
2) Keep your work/life balance. It's very easy for small companies and startups to eat your life and you're spending all your good hours in the office putting out someone else's fire without any additional compensation / comp time / what have you. It's just expected of you and it's easy to slide into that role. Be vigilant about protecting your free time outside of work and setting boundaries to recharge and refresh yourself. Go to meet ups, go for a run, meet new people, whatever you do. Explicitly carve out time for that and defend it zealously against creep. There will always be more work, another fire, and another do or die moment, without fail. There won't be a redo on life. Live yours.
3) They (leadership) may not be loyal to you. Companies, especially startups, expect fanatical devotion to the product, company, and their vision but they won't be loyal or necessarily upfront with you about how the company is doing. You can get a sense of some of these things based on what crosses your desk, but don't expect die hard loyalty or a commitment to treat staff right. Understand petty politics / business concerns will impact you, especially if there are personality conflicts. Get a sense of who you'll be working with and your rapport and decide if you're comfortable with them. Yes, this is cynical to a certain degree, but I've seen it play out repeatedly to the point of carefully screening coworkers and direct managers to the best of my ability before deciding to join. Life is too short to work with/for people you can't stand (and vice versa).
Edited to fix wording.
- Even if this company is insanely successful, most likely you are going to make peanuts. I have worked at two startups as a relatively early employee, one acquired for XX M and another for XXX M. In both cases, the money I would have made/made was hardly life changing. There is a 99% chance that this is a bad economic decision.
- Even if this company is insanely, insanely successful, the founders are going to be flying in private jets, and you'll have a down payment on a house in Palo Alto.
- The only reason to join a startup as an early employee is the learning experience. You will learn more than you can imagine. You are going to work really really hard, and it is going to push you to your limit. You won't be the same person on the other side. It will have some incredible highs and some incredible lows.
It's great to try new things and live on the bleeding edge but at some point the people you work with are going to get tired of switching to the new hot thing. You can only re-do your architecture so many times before people start tuning you out or start to say "no", then what happens?
You'll go back to doing the same thing you were doing such as adding new features (using the already existing tech), fixing bugs, scaling out, etc. That or you'll find a new place to work which, depending on how long you lasted, means you might lose that equity you were given.
Honestly, if you want to play mad scientist and build cool shit you should be a contractor and build solutions for companies that come to you with problems. You get to build it, hand it over and then move on to the next new thing.
People don't always have a realistic view of what they are heading into (and this includes ourselves).
As with most anything worthwhile, the inspiring challenge for today will likely have some periods of the "daily grind". Be realistic with yourself - are you willing to stick through some of these times, or are you likely to jump ship at the first sign of difficulty? There is a balance to strike between perseverance and knowing when it is time to leave. This can be tricky.
Edit: fix punctuation