5 ms·

Ask HN: At what point does being a loyal early hire become a poor choice?

I need advice weighing the benefits of being loyal through the struggles of an early-stage startup vs the importance of looking out for my career. In other words, at what point does loyalty become stupid? I am the first official (non-contract, non-founder) employee of an early-stage startup. I was originally hired as a contractor to do some small jobs for the company, when one of the two technical co-founders left, I was bumped up to programmer lead, at which point, was offered a full-time position as an employee. At this point I floated my resume to a few big name silicon valley companies to see what my prospects were in the hiring world. I got a few interviews that didn't go anywhere so I accepted the job. The job has been a huge opportunity for professional growth as I have had to become an expert on our full stack technologies from deployment and databases to client-side web technologies and my original plan was to stick with this company for a few years to build up my skills and experience. However, there have been a number of warning signs which make me somewhat worried about staying here long term: - As I've talked to other developers outside the company, I think I was taken advantage of in my compensation package (significantly lower salary than median entry level for most tech companies, no equity, and no benefits, though these have been promised to me 'as soon as we are profitable'). - Despite my position as lead programmer, I feel quite cut-off from the business side of the company and this divide between the business and technical sides of the company seems to go all the way up to the technical CTO and CEO. I have no idea who our clients are, what our funding is like, what our income is like or what our business goals are (aside from vague descriptions). Basically I get feature request and bug reports and commit them. - This is partly because we are distributed across North America and do all our work remotely. This wasn't an issue when I was contracting but has increasingly become an issue. Furthermore, I am finding working alone to be extremely stifling. It's lonely and I have no mentors to go to when I run into issues and I repeatedly find myself re-discovering best practices the hard way (doing it wrong before discovering the right way). - Also, our development roadmap continues to be pushed back. We were originally supposed to be live this time last year and a year later we are just barely beginning to meet those development goals. This makes me wonder if we'll ever reach that magical 'profitable' status that will get me finally able to have some benefits. I realize that working for a startup is a wild roller coaster and that success means sticking it through. However, I also do not want to find myself loyally sticking with a sinking ship, to the detriment of my career and bank account. (Edit: formatting)

j_baker 15y ago
Low salary and benefits may be acceptable at an early stage, but there is absolutely no reason you shouldn't get any equity at this point. Personally, I say hope for the best but prepare for the worst. Start looking for a new job before you need one. It'll be much better than living on unemployment.
iamdave 15y ago
When you can't see the door out.
- uneasyearlyhire 15y ago
  At that point isn't it already the case that you should have already left? I mean, having no other options is exactly the sort of situation I want to avoid.
  - lotusleaf1987 15y ago
    Stick with it until you find another job, especially now that you can leverage the experience and everything you've learned. A paycheck is better than none at all so I'd wait to find a replacement before you quit, also it's usually easier to find a job when you're already employed.
    - uneasyearlyhire 15y ago
      Looking for a job though already feels like being disloyal. Given how early we are and how much domain knowledge I have of our system and operations, I worry that my leaving the company could be catastrophic for them. On the other hand, do I even want to be with a company (as a non-founder) who's entire existence is dependent on a single employee? If so, then, I feel I should be compensated accordingly.
      - lotusleaf1987 15y ago
        |Looking for a job though already feels like being disloyal. Not to be offensive, but you're brainwashed. You should be thinking about yourself. Why are you sacrificing your career, happiness, quality of life, and opportunities to a company that sounds like they're using/abusing you--low pay, no equity, bad work environment. If they're so dependent on you, then you should be compensated accordingly. Your value to the company and your pay are directly related.

j_baker 15y ago

Low salary and benefits may be acceptable at an early stage, but there is absolutely no reason you shouldn't get any equity at this point. Personally, I say hope for the best but prepare for the worst. Start looking for a new job before you need one. It'll be much better than living on unemployment.

iamdave 15y ago

When you can't see the door out.

uneasyearlyhire 15y ago
At that point isn't it already the case that you should have already left? I mean, having no other options is exactly the sort of situation I want to avoid.
- lotusleaf1987 15y ago
  Stick with it until you find another job, especially now that you can leverage the experience and everything you've learned. A paycheck is better than none at all so I'd wait to find a replacement before you quit, also it's usually easier to find a job when you're already employed.
  - uneasyearlyhire 15y ago
    Looking for a job though already feels like being disloyal. Given how early we are and how much domain knowledge I have of our system and operations, I worry that my leaving the company could be catastrophic for them. On the other hand, do I even want to be with a company (as a non-founder) who's entire existence is dependent on a single employee? If so, then, I feel I should be compensated accordingly.
    - lotusleaf1987 15y ago
      |Looking for a job though already feels like being disloyal. Not to be offensive, but you're brainwashed. You should be thinking about yourself. Why are you sacrificing your career, happiness, quality of life, and opportunities to a company that sounds like they're using/abusing you--low pay, no equity, bad work environment. If they're so dependent on you, then you should be compensated accordingly. Your value to the company and your pay are directly related.