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goodweeds' HN profile: An old sysadmin going through a career change, spending most of my time learning Ruby, Rails and developing small niche websites

by temphn 15y ago

goodweeds' HN profile: An old sysadmin going through a career change, spending most of my time learning Ruby, Rails and developing small niche websites as a way to fund my lifestyle of friends, family, outdoor exploration, and ganja. Disclosure: I suffer from Ultra-Radian Cycling Bi-Polar Disorder, and have a tendency to post stupid comments during swings that I later regret. I'm not quite sure how to fix this with software, yet. No comment on the second paragraph. But in all seriousness, a lifestyle of "friends, family, outdoor exploration, and ganja" may not be wholly compatible with the intensity required to build a successful startup. Given the gaudy valuations and acquisition prices of many YC startups, it might be useful for someone to estimate what the average, median, and max ROIs are for engineers joining YC startups before 10, 20, and 50 employees. Would not be surprised to see mean north of $200k, and median slightly lower. That's the risk profile people are looking for when they join a startup. Only pg could really do this calculation of course.

goodweeds 15y ago
You're half right. I'm more than happy to work myself for the bone, but I'm not willing to do it when I hold all the risk and others hold all of the upside. The thing about today's startups is that the founders hold zero risk, they get paid good salaries and they keep the lion's share of the company for themselves while asking their engineers to bleed for them in exchange for their table scraps. All in the name of "interesting projects" and "fun, exciting environments". I've sold one company, failed another, and am working on a third. Between consulting and full-time employment I've worked directly wit about 50 start-ups over the past 12 years. I know dozens of founders who are now millionaires, even two who are now hundred millionaires. Except for the fluke of associates I know who went through Google's IPO, and through Youtube's acquisitions, I only know about a handful of engineers who have become millionaires working for a startup.
- temphn 15y ago
  > the founders hold zero risk There is zero evidence for this claim.

by temphn 15y ago

goodweeds 15y ago

You're half right. I'm more than happy to work myself for the bone, but I'm not willing to do it when I hold all the risk and others hold all of the upside. The thing about today's startups is that the founders hold zero risk, they get paid good salaries and they keep the lion's share of the company for themselves while asking their engineers to bleed for them in exchange for their table scraps. All in the name of "interesting projects" and "fun, exciting environments". I've sold one company, failed another, and am working on a third. Between consulting and full-time employment I've worked directly wit about 50 start-ups over the past 12 years. I know dozens of founders who are now millionaires, even two who are now hundred millionaires. Except for the fluke of associates I know who went through Google's IPO, and through Youtube's acquisitions, I only know about a handful of engineers who have become millionaires working for a startup.

temphn 15y ago
> the founders hold zero risk There is zero evidence for this claim.