The "startup" guy's an idiot. Typical clueless 23 year old living in their parents' basements asking overly complex financing questions that position themselves like a Goldman Sachs hedge fund manager.
Cross correlation post from the "I Knew a Programmer Who Went Completely Insane" thread:
Clueless company employee, who either doesn't understand his precarious, cannon fodder, expandable position OR is part of the management (computer science OR, both statements can be simultaneously true and most likely they are) says: "In my opinion, you should only use 80% of your working hours doing the "real stuff". Devote 20% of your working hours to non-technical work, active career development and image management."
Great openness and willingness to be transparent about the fact you don't always feel in control (as much as you would want your investors, team, and users to think so 24/7).
IMO you don't need a team of only unicorns. In fact, ego management will be very difficult if you miraculously manage to build such a seemingly perfect team. You need a good balance between leaders and "followers", who can be great people, but not superstars.
I don't disagree, really. Some positions obviously aren't made for "unicorns" but, that said, have found that just because someone is brilliant doesn't mean they're necessarily a pain in the ass.
i constantly wonder whether it's worth entering the startup world after finishing my phd, hearing of 'hire fast/fire fast', looking for 'unicorns'....is this rat race even worth it? What's wrong with just wanting to solve problems, why do you need to build fast as opposed to building something that's awesome and works well - find a niche and grow from there. I can almost feel the 'pressure of the job' for those engineering the system when reading posts from founders/ceos with regards to recruiting - here's a hint "it's always about finding the right employees" (well no shit sherlock).
If you're wondering whether it's worth it, definitely sounds like it probably isn't for you. Like all fulfilling things in life (I imagine like getting a PhD, eg.), it's freakin' hard-- so you better go after the things that you think will be worth it & more, IMHO.
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[ 2.8 ms ] story [ 44.8 ms ] threadClueless company employee, who either doesn't understand his precarious, cannon fodder, expandable position OR is part of the management (computer science OR, both statements can be simultaneously true and most likely they are) says: "In my opinion, you should only use 80% of your working hours doing the "real stuff". Devote 20% of your working hours to non-technical work, active career development and image management."
Guess what any smart 10x unicorn would do? :P