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I've interviewed with several, worked at none yet, but hopefully that would change soon. Similarities I've noticed: - They grow fast. Unlike larger companies,

by muzani 5y ago

I've interviewed with several, worked at none yet, but hopefully that would change soon. Similarities I've noticed: - They grow fast. Unlike larger companies, there's room for promotion. Unlike smaller companies, you're not stuck being the sole person responsible for a thing for the next two years. - Lots of tech debt. All startups have them, but YC ones are on another level. Like the Collison validation method, where they'd give an API and there would be a human on the other end handling all payments that went through it. They often acknowledge and manage it better than most startups. - Product oriented. They believe good product leads to profits, which leads to investors. You don't end up building as much crap that nobody uses. - Hard work. Some are proud, some are defensive/hide it, some hint it (free dinners). Other than that, culture is mixed. You have liberals and racists. High and low pay. Bureaucratic and flat. Sincere bosses and charlatans.

ghufran_syed 5y ago
high pay is opposite to low pay… bureaucratic is opposite to flat… sincere is opposite to charlatan… liberal is opposite to…”racist”? It sounds like your definition of “racist” is “disagrees with me politically”? Do you think such a definition helps victims of “old-fashioned” racism where people treat you worse because of your skin color?
- muzani 5y ago
  You're looking too much into it. Some care a lot about pronouns and minority ratios. And some are reported on glassdoor to pay less and look over minorities for promotion. For context, a lot of these are Asian, where American political definitions don't apply. Maybe a better word might be "family business". Some companies are built like gangs. They're there to protect a certain ethnicity. You're expected to speak Mandarin, or it's "expat friendly", or they appreciate those who pray 5 times a day. Certain religious holidays are acknowledged and some are not. But very few people can build a unicorn and a family business at the same time. Maybe what I meant was some companies try to hire "people like me" and others try to hire "people not like me".

by muzani 5y ago

ghufran_syed 5y ago

high pay is opposite to low pay… bureaucratic is opposite to flat… sincere is opposite to charlatan… liberal is opposite to…”racist”? It sounds like your definition of “racist” is “disagrees with me politically”? Do you think such a definition helps victims of “old-fashioned” racism where people treat you worse because of your skin color?

muzani 5y ago
You're looking too much into it. Some care a lot about pronouns and minority ratios. And some are reported on glassdoor to pay less and look over minorities for promotion. For context, a lot of these are Asian, where American political definitions don't apply. Maybe a better word might be "family business". Some companies are built like gangs. They're there to protect a certain ethnicity. You're expected to speak Mandarin, or it's "expat friendly", or they appreciate those who pray 5 times a day. Certain religious holidays are acknowledged and some are not. But very few people can build a unicorn and a family business at the same time. Maybe what I meant was some companies try to hire "people like me" and others try to hire "people not like me".