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Ask HN: What kind of perk would sway you to join one company over another?

7 points by allenc ↗ HN
Just a thought exercise. Suppose you had two offers from hot startups, giving you comparable salaries and equity, plus some small amt. of benefits befitting of a startup. If you were negotiating, what would be the one perk or benefit that'd persuade you to join one startup over another? In other words, what intangible factor outside of the usual comp + project work + chance of success would a company need to attract you?

12 comments

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leftnode
Ability to choose, within reason, where I work. Want to work from home today? No problem. Want to take Friday off but work part of Saturday and Sunday? Sure thing.

Essentially that translates into trust.

bryanmig
The ability to pick and choose the components that make up my workstation - laptop, monitor, etc. I hate being given a laptop that I dont like upon joining. Or worse, being given a laptop used by the guy before me.
thetrumanshow
Edit: Oh, you said 'intangible' benefit and you mentioned this in the context of negotiation... gee, I can't think of an intangible benefit that can be negotiated. Can you negotiate that the company should have a strong, recognizable brand and hires top-notch people? Those are intangibles that make a difference, because I care strongly about the brand that I stamp on my resume. Titles could be negotiated, I suppose... but there are so many small companies with VPs of XYZ (title inflation), that titles are only meaningful if the company has a strong reputation already.
allenc
Yea, maybe "intangibles" was a bad choice of wording - what I meant was more along the lines of "unquantifiable", in the sense that it's not just more options or salary or maybe 401k matching. Branding and title would fit well along those lines.
snoozer
Physical environment: quiet, comfortable, well lit, with the ability to have privacy as I need it for phone calls and just plain thinking. A personal whiteboard. And, silly as it may sound, a good bathroom.
bartonfink
This would be very tough to negotiate, but I'd most prefer to work with people who can actually teach me something that I didn't know I didn't know.

Honestly, though, you're assuming the biggest factor of my preference - interesting work. I would take a hard look at that long before many other factors (e.g. culture, telecommuting, benefits).

veb
Equipment (computer, laptop, cell-phone+plan), and the ability to remote.

Honestly. I'm on 37k, and would take a pay-cut for the above.

petervandijck
4-day working weeks. If you can't do it in 4 days, you probably can't do it in 5 days either. In other words, the expectation that you can do great work without working 80-hour weeks.

Flexibility and trust in working hours. If I want to work from 6pm to 4am, let me. (See above)

scottyallen
6 weeks of vacation per year, and the understanding that it's actually ok to use it. It's normal in Europe and Australia. Why couldn't it work here?
rawsyntax
interesting that many people say telecommuting. If you guys really feel that way, apply for telecommute jobs!