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To rephrase the dilemma you pose: "FAANG has more money than my startup and the employees I want are mainly motivated by money". There is probably not much you
by WJW 6y ago
To rephrase the dilemma you pose: "FAANG has more money than my startup and the employees I want are mainly motivated by money". There is probably not much you can do to beat FAANG on the money front. Some options include:
- Go for less top-notch people. Do you really need the very best or have you just convinced yourself that you do? How do you even measure quality? I've seen ex-FAANG people bomb more than once at a younger company because they couldn't handle the lack of structure and immediately went about imposing Google-scale solutions and processes for a 10-person company.
- Seek out people motivated by something else than money (ie autonomy, purpose, mastery, community) and offer them opportunities to chase those things.
- Finally, your post is very focused on YOUR perspective as entrepreneur. Things like "there will be no options left in the pool for other people" and "then companies like mine and many others will die" are not problems for the prospective employee. They are under no obligation to join your company just because you really want them to.
- datavirtue 6y agoI can't handle the structure of a large company. There is more than pay influencing decisions. I like the nimble "family" atmosphere of a startup and the ability to make an impact. That sometimes propels people to greatness. I had zero credentials and was hired as app support to free up developer time at a startup. My freedom to impact the business infused me with passion and I ended up being a key person in the operations of the company and a major influencer of the technical direction. My salary went through the roof. Hire people who haven't been burnt down by big company culture and turn them loose. You can create top-notch people on the fly. The people they hired along side me who had credentials and tons of Corp experience were left standing.