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"You should expect the same passion and drive in your employees that you have yourself as a founder." Nope. Especially not in a bootstrapped company where foun
by mpeg 9y ago
"You should expect the same passion and drive in your employees that you have yourself as a founder."
Nope. Especially not in a bootstrapped company where founders probably retain most equity.
- charlesdm 9y agoMaybe, maybe not. But you can still find pretty kick ass employees by somewhat spreading the wealth around. Make sure they have a great office and they're well taken care of. Perhaps have a bonus pool. Offer flexibility. Etc. It might not matter much in the valley, where every startup does it, but it will if you're building a business in say, Europe. I personally don't believe that just because you retain most equity as a founder in a "lifestyle business" you can't find equally and/or better employees. You just have to focus on different things. It's just a different game (organic, slower growth, longer term), and you probably don't want to be handing out equity to people if you run a profitable bootstrapped business.
- sidlls 9y agoI think the context matters. If the employee(s) in question have meaningful equity and authority in the business then it's a reasonable comment. If they're just salaried employees, even with some token paper lottery ticket style equity options, it's absolutely ridiculous to expect them to have the same passion and commitment as the founders.
- Yellow_Boat 9y agoEquity is not everything. There are bootstrapped startups that have outstanding work culture with people really aiming high, where 100% equity is in owner's hands. Equity often is overadvertised. I would take good pay over equity as a father for example.