3 ms·

"do you have paying customers?"

• tptacek 9y ago
  Repeating myself: you want more than the binary answer. You want to know the company's number. What's their revenue target this year? Do they generally hit targets? Is this the first year they've actually had a cash money target? Unlike runway and percentage ownership questions, which you are always entitled to, companies can be justifiably squirmy about providing these numbers to candidates. If so, can you get a commitment to get the numbers once you accept an offer? With that commitment in hand, can you talk in generalities about their numbers? Do they have targets? Does everyone know what they are? Do they change often? What happens when they miss? We talk a lot on HN about cap table questions, but not so much about the nuts and bolts questions of what makes a business successful or not. I'd start with those before getting to the equity numbers, as they'll inform a lot of your negotiating position. "How much risk am I taking? How critical is my role to the performance of the company? How sensitive is the company likely to be to performance, including mine, in the next 9 months?" I'd be really hesitant to take a job at a company that (a) should at this point be thinking in terms of revenue rather than metrics but isn't, and (b) has a number that management knows about but rank-and-file employees don't.
• jbreckmckye 9y ago
  Well, no, because then they aren't a startup but a small business, surely?