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It isn't the deciding factor. We've had employees choose us over other offers with higher salaries. An unfair offer can make people avoid your company, but a

It isn't the deciding factor. We've had employees choose us over other offers with higher salaries. An unfair offer can make people avoid your company, but a higher salary is rarely the reason why people say yes. Fwiw, my personal experience as a developer also matches this. Before starting Robusta, I turned down a very high offer from Microsoft to go to a development job at a startup because I preferred a high impact job over better compensation.

manuelabeledo 5y ago
> We've had employees choose us over other offers with higher salaries I guess the question here is, how much higher? If I was offered a good package with sizeable equity and/or options, in a startup with a good outlook and decent valuation, I could forsake a slightly better cash offering. But if I was to be paid say 25% more in cash, I doubt I would have gone for the startup gig. Mostly because I have a family to feed and a mortgage to pay. I would love not to have to think about money, but realistically, I can’t afford to say “no” to cash.
- deleted 5y ago
  [deleted]
- yawnxyz 5y ago
  That's an interesting question — this kind of hiring probably ends up biasing the hiring process towards a certain kind of people. Not saying it's right or wrong, I'm just saying that this type of situation (giving up higher wages for opportunity or mission) definitely selects for certain types of people in certain situations.
  - nyellin 5y ago
    Time will tell, but I'm not convinced! One third of our employees are parents. Money isn't everything and there are more ways to be family friendly than offering the highest salary. For example, we offer 1 month of paid parental leave (at 75% salary) for all genders. We're possibly the smallest startup in the world to offer something like this. But I think it's morally correct, not damaging from a business perspective (employees aren't focused on work anyway with a new child), and it certainly helps us compete with companies that are much bigger and even give higher compensation. *Depending on your country and your gender, you might get better benefits for a longer period of time. This is the minimum you'll get (at our expense)
    - manuelabeledo 5y ago
      > Time will tell, but I'm not convinced! One third of our employees are parents. What’s the distribution, though. When I started as an engineer in a small startup over a decade ago, the ratio was similar, but mostly the higher ups were parents. The vast majority of engineering, sales and marketing were either unmarried or childless. > Money isn't everything and there are more ways to be family friendly than offering the highest salary. For example, we offer 1 month of paid parental leave (at 75% salary) for all genders. Many companies offering high salaries also have parental leave, so this may not be a factor either.
      - nyellin 5y ago
        The engineers have kids.

manuelabeledo 5y ago

> We've had employees choose us over other offers with higher salaries I guess the question here is, how much higher? If I was offered a good package with sizeable equity and/or options, in a startup with a good outlook and decent valuation, I could forsake a slightly better cash offering. But if I was to be paid say 25% more in cash, I doubt I would have gone for the startup gig. Mostly because I have a family to feed and a mortgage to pay. I would love not to have to think about money, but realistically, I can’t afford to say “no” to cash.

deleted 5y ago
[deleted]
yawnxyz 5y ago
That's an interesting question — this kind of hiring probably ends up biasing the hiring process towards a certain kind of people. Not saying it's right or wrong, I'm just saying that this type of situation (giving up higher wages for opportunity or mission) definitely selects for certain types of people in certain situations.
- nyellin 5y ago
  Time will tell, but I'm not convinced! One third of our employees are parents. Money isn't everything and there are more ways to be family friendly than offering the highest salary. For example, we offer 1 month of paid parental leave (at 75% salary) for all genders. We're possibly the smallest startup in the world to offer something like this. But I think it's morally correct, not damaging from a business perspective (employees aren't focused on work anyway with a new child), and it certainly helps us compete with companies that are much bigger and even give higher compensation. *Depending on your country and your gender, you might get better benefits for a longer period of time. This is the minimum you'll get (at our expense)
  - manuelabeledo 5y ago
    > Time will tell, but I'm not convinced! One third of our employees are parents. What’s the distribution, though. When I started as an engineer in a small startup over a decade ago, the ratio was similar, but mostly the higher ups were parents. The vast majority of engineering, sales and marketing were either unmarried or childless. > Money isn't everything and there are more ways to be family friendly than offering the highest salary. For example, we offer 1 month of paid parental leave (at 75% salary) for all genders. Many companies offering high salaries also have parental leave, so this may not be a factor either.
    - nyellin 5y ago
      The engineers have kids.