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Your post is probably accurate for most megacorps, but I should hope that employees at a startup or company of less than 10 people don't feel this way about the

by ericd 17y ago

Your post is probably accurate for most megacorps, but I should hope that employees at a startup or company of less than 10 people don't feel this way about the company. At that level, it's very much a personal relationship rather than a company-employee relationship where loyalty only goes one way. Not all companies are about the creation of profit at any cost... some actually like creating an environment that is pleasant to work in, with free food, etc. for no reason other than making life a bit more enjoyable.

elblanco 17y ago
You'd be surprised at how fast that all can go away though. Everybody thinks they are all a bunch of friends, hanging out and building something cool, until they can't make payroll. I've worked at a few startups with that kind of nice "let's make it great here" vibe. And sure enough when the investment money runs out, and it's time to start turning the results from the monthly accounting report black...well the company's loyalty will only stretch about so far.
kelnos 17y ago
It's a personal relationship with the people, not with the company. You feel a personal connection with the founders, with the other early employees. You're passionate about the product. You want to build something amazing, and make more money out of it than you put in, and maybe change the world doing so. Your CEO probably cares about you. It probably kills him when the company is running out of money and he has to let you go. But the company doesn't "care." It shows no loyalty to you, and you should feel no loyalty to it. That doesn't mean you can't work for a company and love the work, but it does mean you shouldn't get wrapped up in it to the point where you lose sight of your own interests.
- ericd 17y ago
  My point was that when the company is the founders, it's not really possible to separate loyalty to the founders and loyalty to the company. At that point, it's very possible that the founders/company will act out of loyalty to you rather than purely out of self-interest, at least until their ability to do so runs out. And I disagree vehemently that one should feel no loyalty to their startup. I know of at least one startup that has run out of money without sacking their employees, and the employees agreed to waive their pay until the startup was able to get its cashflow going again. Had they all immediately bailed as you seem to imply they should have, that startup would be dead now. Instead, I believe its current valuation is around a billion. I would hope my employees would do the same for me.

by ericd 17y ago

elblanco 17y ago

You'd be surprised at how fast that all can go away though. Everybody thinks they are all a bunch of friends, hanging out and building something cool, until they can't make payroll. I've worked at a few startups with that kind of nice "let's make it great here" vibe. And sure enough when the investment money runs out, and it's time to start turning the results from the monthly accounting report black...well the company's loyalty will only stretch about so far.

kelnos 17y ago

It's a personal relationship with the people, not with the company. You feel a personal connection with the founders, with the other early employees. You're passionate about the product. You want to build something amazing, and make more money out of it than you put in, and maybe change the world doing so. Your CEO probably cares about you. It probably kills him when the company is running out of money and he has to let you go. But the company doesn't "care." It shows no loyalty to you, and you should feel no loyalty to it. That doesn't mean you can't work for a company and love the work, but it does mean you shouldn't get wrapped up in it to the point where you lose sight of your own interests.

ericd 17y ago
My point was that when the company is the founders, it's not really possible to separate loyalty to the founders and loyalty to the company. At that point, it's very possible that the founders/company will act out of loyalty to you rather than purely out of self-interest, at least until their ability to do so runs out. And I disagree vehemently that one should feel no loyalty to their startup. I know of at least one startup that has run out of money without sacking their employees, and the employees agreed to waive their pay until the startup was able to get its cashflow going again. Had they all immediately bailed as you seem to imply they should have, that startup would be dead now. Instead, I believe its current valuation is around a billion. I would hope my employees would do the same for me.