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Ask HN: What's the best way to find (paid) startup work as a web team?
Hi Guys,
We are a team of two web developers and a designer (experienced Rails developers but by no means exclusive).
We're currently on consulting contracts (hence the throwaway account, apologies). We could continue to find similar contracts - at big or boring companies - in order to pay rent. But we'd like not to.
We'd like to work with a start up or a small business. We've got our own side projects too, and so we think we could really help out and make a difference, as opposed to sitting back and chilling out at a larger company.
Unfortunately, every start up (or potential startup) we reach out to has the same idea - "Oh, just work for equity" (the landlord doesn't take equity), or they want us only as full-time employees (won't work due to aforementioned side projects).
Are we just asking for too much?
How do people running startups/small businesses feel about hiring experienced contractors?
Would you prefer a less experienced employee to a more experienced contractor, all else being equal?
- ig1 15y agoAt a larger company paying a contractor/consulting firm makes more sense, because they want to be able to scale down easily. If a startup wants to scale down it normally means the startup has failed, at which point you might as well have employees. There's also the issue of funding, if the startup has raised VC money the VC will want the startup to build a team and thus a sustainable business. You don't get that with contractors, the only reason that a startup might favour a contractor is if the contractor is substantially cheaper.
- webteam 15y agoI appreciate your candid response. I'm interested in the logic applied by VCs - "employees == sustainable business, contractors == not a 'real' team". I don't get that - an employee is just as free to leave and do something else as a contractor is? In some cases, it might even be easier for an employee (contract terms and whatnot). What exactly is the benefit? Anecdotes != Data, but some of the best start up employees I know started off as contractors initially.
- tlack 15y agoBut contractors are often working for many customers at one time. If one of those customers has a large project, it will affect the time available for the rest of the contractors projects.
- webteam 15y agoWe would generally only work for one customer at a time, otherwise we're just spread too thin. But yes, I guess the concentrated time is a big issue. Although, a lot of employees (again, anecdotally) also have side projects? Why is that different?
- ig1 15y agoBecause in general employees stick around longer than contractors (even if it might not be true in every case). Plus employee incentives tend to be aligned with staying long term (bonuses, equity, etc.)