3 ms·

Well understood by whom? - Founders? - Venture Capitalists? - Startup Employees? - Internet commenters from all over the world? - All of the Abov

Well understood by whom? - Founders? - Venture Capitalists? - Startup Employees? - Internet commenters from all over the world? - All of the Above?

mockingbirdy 8y ago
Cynical 4chan users and people without integrity, especially. Only the latter are able to write about success and corporate holidays in the same paragraph they write about how they fired many people only a few months before.
patejam 8y ago
It should be understood by the employees. I joined a Big-whatever company because of the stability. If I was going to join a small startup, I'd be aware of the instability. That doesn't mean it isn't bad to lay people off in a startup; it's horrible. And it means the founders did something wrong (hired too many people, didn't have a good business model, etc). But it should be understood that the entire company can disappear in 6 months if its a new startup.
- CiPHPerCoder 8y ago
  > It should be understood by the employees. I agree. > I joined a Big-whatever company because of the stability. If I was going to join a small startup, I'd be aware of the instability. I concur with your reasoning. > That doesn't mean it isn't bad to lay people off in a startup; it's horrible. And it means the founders did something wrong (hired too many people, didn't have a good business model, etc). 100% > But it should be understood that the entire company can disappear in 6 months if its a new startup. That's fair. But just because something should be understood, doesn't mean it necessarily is understood by all parties. Assuming "ought implies is" is how a lot of dangerous mistakes happen.
ben509 8y ago
Putting aside MLM and similar companies that actively prey on employees... I'm sure it's possible that there are people who have never heard any of the statistics about how many startups fail, who have never worked at a startup, don't know anyone who has, never talked about a coworker who left to work at a startup, and who go through the recruiting process without anyone mentioning it. It's understood by everyone else, though, so I think that qualifies as "well understood" generally.
scarface74 8y ago
I would hope that anyone who works for a non profitable startup is going in knowing the risks.
- sk5t 8y ago
  "Here are our books, we're losing money" is not part of the hiring pitch nor employee onboarding.
  - scarface74 8y ago
    There are warning signs. The clearest one is how many customers they have. For a B2B company, if they have only a few large whales, you should be concerned. For a B2C company, you can usually find out about the number of customers, growth rate, etc. if I am coming in on a senior level, I ask those questions. Well not really, in the current technological climate, I really don’t worry about job stability. Jobs are a dime a dozen for developers and I get benefits through my wife.

Well understood by whom? - Founders? - Venture Capitalists? - Startup Employees? - Internet commenters from all over the world? - All of the Above?

mockingbirdy 8y ago

Cynical 4chan users and people without integrity, especially. Only the latter are able to write about success and corporate holidays in the same paragraph they write about how they fired many people only a few months before.

patejam 8y ago

It should be understood by the employees. I joined a Big-whatever company because of the stability. If I was going to join a small startup, I'd be aware of the instability. That doesn't mean it isn't bad to lay people off in a startup; it's horrible. And it means the founders did something wrong (hired too many people, didn't have a good business model, etc). But it should be understood that the entire company can disappear in 6 months if its a new startup.

CiPHPerCoder 8y ago
> It should be understood by the employees. I agree. > I joined a Big-whatever company because of the stability. If I was going to join a small startup, I'd be aware of the instability. I concur with your reasoning. > That doesn't mean it isn't bad to lay people off in a startup; it's horrible. And it means the founders did something wrong (hired too many people, didn't have a good business model, etc). 100% > But it should be understood that the entire company can disappear in 6 months if its a new startup. That's fair. But just because something should be understood, doesn't mean it necessarily is understood by all parties. Assuming "ought implies is" is how a lot of dangerous mistakes happen.

ben509 8y ago

Putting aside MLM and similar companies that actively prey on employees... I'm sure it's possible that there are people who have never heard any of the statistics about how many startups fail, who have never worked at a startup, don't know anyone who has, never talked about a coworker who left to work at a startup, and who go through the recruiting process without anyone mentioning it. It's understood by everyone else, though, so I think that qualifies as "well understood" generally.

scarface74 8y ago

I would hope that anyone who works for a non profitable startup is going in knowing the risks.

sk5t 8y ago
"Here are our books, we're losing money" is not part of the hiring pitch nor employee onboarding.
- scarface74 8y ago
  There are warning signs. The clearest one is how many customers they have. For a B2B company, if they have only a few large whales, you should be concerned. For a B2C company, you can usually find out about the number of customers, growth rate, etc. if I am coming in on a senior level, I ask those questions. Well not really, in the current technological climate, I really don’t worry about job stability. Jobs are a dime a dozen for developers and I get benefits through my wife.