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Agreed, I am 40+ and am a CTO at a startup which has great work/life balance. We pay approximately market (for a normal dev job, not FAANG), haven't had people

Agreed, I am 40+ and am a CTO at a startup which has great work/life balance. We pay approximately market (for a normal dev job, not FAANG), haven't had people do overtime in well over a year, are transparent about finances, and have practically zero politics. It is also possible for a startup to be "stable", especially if it's bootstrapped/profitable.

high_derivative 6y ago
'have practically zero politics' tingles my bs-meter. How would you know how your employees feel about this? There is always politics. Of course not for the ones who cannot be promoted further, but for everyone else. My boss not acknowledging the existence of politics would be a red flag to me.
- deleted 6y ago
  [deleted]
- hehsjsbb 6y ago
  Politics isn't just about promotion. It's about what kind of work people get to do, whose opinion is respected, etc. I don't care about getting promoted in my current role (at a small start-up where the eng org is flat), but I'm miserable because there's obviously a clique of people who are "trusted" and take over the technical direction of anything interesting. What's left is basically just implementing their ideas and then having them rewrite it on you or nitpick it in PRs until they practically wrote it.
  - giantg2 6y ago
    Well said. I feel your pain.
- paul_f 6y ago
  I have worked in plenty of places where there is little drama. These are usually run by well respected, competent managers who are also transparent. If you always run into office politics, the problem could possibly be you.
  - hitekker 6y ago
    By the same token, if you don't notice anyone suffering around you, the problem is probably you.
- Spooky23 6y ago
  Three people on a road trip have politics. There are degrees though. I’ve worked in places with nasty politics. It’s brutal and awful. In a smaller place with a flatter org, you’re usually going to have less nastiness, for the simple reason that there aren’t any bullshit roles with organizational power. Bullshit attracts assholes. When small companies suck, it’s usually because the owner is a jerk.
kevinmchugh 6y ago
Loose definitions of "startup" means there will be lots of exceptions or talking past each other when one tries to make declarations about the nature of startups. One popular definition of "startup" (Steve Blank's) basically precludes profitability.
e1g 6y ago
You might work at a small or young company that is not a startup. A "startup" is a specific type of business designed for rapid growth. If there are profits, that means holding cash in a bank offers better returns that re-investing into sales/operations which implies there is no fast growth.
- drchopchop 6y ago
  We are small (<$5M ARR) and were indeed re-investing excess cash into hiring/ops, which actually caused significant problems when COVID hit and our revenue dropped. So I'd call that a startup? It's not like we're not trying to achieve rapid growth, we just haven't found the secret magic yet to turn into a unicorn. Doesn't mean we're not trying.
me_me_me 6y ago
Maybe its a matter of language. A typical HN startup is wannable Unicorn get rich quick scheme. Maybe we need a new term for that.

high_derivative 6y ago

'have practically zero politics' tingles my bs-meter. How would you know how your employees feel about this? There is always politics. Of course not for the ones who cannot be promoted further, but for everyone else. My boss not acknowledging the existence of politics would be a red flag to me.

deleted 6y ago
[deleted]
hehsjsbb 6y ago
Politics isn't just about promotion. It's about what kind of work people get to do, whose opinion is respected, etc. I don't care about getting promoted in my current role (at a small start-up where the eng org is flat), but I'm miserable because there's obviously a clique of people who are "trusted" and take over the technical direction of anything interesting. What's left is basically just implementing their ideas and then having them rewrite it on you or nitpick it in PRs until they practically wrote it.
- giantg2 6y ago
  Well said. I feel your pain.
paul_f 6y ago
I have worked in plenty of places where there is little drama. These are usually run by well respected, competent managers who are also transparent. If you always run into office politics, the problem could possibly be you.
- hitekker 6y ago
  By the same token, if you don't notice anyone suffering around you, the problem is probably you.
Spooky23 6y ago
Three people on a road trip have politics. There are degrees though. I’ve worked in places with nasty politics. It’s brutal and awful. In a smaller place with a flatter org, you’re usually going to have less nastiness, for the simple reason that there aren’t any bullshit roles with organizational power. Bullshit attracts assholes. When small companies suck, it’s usually because the owner is a jerk.

kevinmchugh 6y ago

Loose definitions of "startup" means there will be lots of exceptions or talking past each other when one tries to make declarations about the nature of startups. One popular definition of "startup" (Steve Blank's) basically precludes profitability.

e1g 6y ago

You might work at a small or young company that is not a startup. A "startup" is a specific type of business designed for rapid growth. If there are profits, that means holding cash in a bank offers better returns that re-investing into sales/operations which implies there is no fast growth.

drchopchop 6y ago
We are small (<$5M ARR) and were indeed re-investing excess cash into hiring/ops, which actually caused significant problems when COVID hit and our revenue dropped. So I'd call that a startup? It's not like we're not trying to achieve rapid growth, we just haven't found the secret magic yet to turn into a unicorn. Doesn't mean we're not trying.

me_me_me 6y ago

Maybe its a matter of language. A typical HN startup is wannable Unicorn get rich quick scheme. Maybe we need a new term for that.