Ask HN: To employees of a startup that later got acquired/IPO'd
How do you figure out you picked a "winner" startup before joining?
Let me preface this with saying, I'll be so upset if the majority of answers boil down to having a lot of luck :D I've been burned out through a few early stage companies and it feels like it's all blind luck. Hopefully it's not all a guessing game and you can make predictions based on certain qualities and metrics of a startup at early stages.
As a bonus question: would you work for an early startup whose founder(s) have no previous business track record?
3 comments
[ 2.6 ms ] story [ 14.3 ms ] thread1. Solving an actual problem for actual users that users have shown they are willing to pay for. This One Neat Trick will leave you significantly better off than average: everything else is secondary.
2. No long hours, burned out founders, fancy soda machines or other signs of prioritising appearances over competence.
3. Multiple cofounders, but one that is in charge. That person should have at least have managed a team before, and the people they had managed should respect them.
4. The team should look like the audience they intend to serve. Unless the product is specifically for men, no way I'd join a team that's all dudes.
No startup track record might be okay, depending on what background they did have, but I'm also always concerned about founders who are willing to give away the farm for funding. I need to trust the CEO with my stock options, not just the company's success.