5 ms·

I know a decent number of people I would want to be my first hire, and I think they might be interested. The biggest mental hurdle for me is "How can I ensure t

by jarin 15y ago

I know a decent number of people I would want to be my first hire, and I think they might be interested. The biggest mental hurdle for me is "How can I ensure that I can pay them every month?"

smallegan 15y ago
I'm with you here, how much cash should I have banked before I hire employee #1?
- jarin 15y ago
  It's starting to get to the point where I have so much work that I need some help, but on the other hand I'm ok with taking the risk of eating ramen and potatoes for weeks at a time if I have to (mostly if I have trouble collecting from a client). A lot of people have suggested contracting out work, which seems good but it has its own problems. I would rather have someone completely on board. I have half a mind to just jump in the deep end and trust that I'll be able to swim, but having someone depend on you for income is much different than just putting your own well-being and comfort at risk.
  - tomjen3 15y ago
    I know what you mean. Personally I can live in a much smaller apartment and I don't mind sharing a kitchen so much (unless the other guys are complete slops and never clean anything) but if I had a SO I wouldn't risk it. Humans are such silly creatures...
  - smallegan 15y ago
    This raises the question, is it better to hire young unmarried developers with no kids if only to clear your conscience knowing that if things go badly you aren't putting an entire families well being in jeopardy.
    - petercooper 15y ago
      I think it is, but you'd need to exercise this idea discreetly, as if you make this preference known you could run into discriminatory hiring practice issues. (The sad fact is, people still discriminate - they just don't talk about it anymore.)
      - damncabbage 15y ago
        It's a bit late now; this thread will probably show up during discovery if he ends up in court over it.
      - smallegan 15y ago
        I'm merely posing a question and saying all things equal it may be more advantageous to hire the candidate without a family.
    - ahoyhere 15y ago
      In the US at least, and Europe, that is illegal discrimination.
      - stickfigure 15y ago
        IANAL, but I do not believe discrimination laws in the US apply to businesses with 15 or fewer employees.
        xxpor 15y ago
        Where the heck did you hear this? This means I could open a hardware store, and a black person would come in for an interview, and I could be like "Black people need not apply"? That sounds awfully ridiculous.
        stickfigure 15y ago
        In the US there are a wide variety of laws at both state and federal level affecting employment discrimination, but all of the laws I am familiar with have a "small business exception". See: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Employment_discrimination_law_in_the_United_States http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Employment_discrimination_law_i... On the other hand, state and local laws may add additional restrictions beyond federal laws and as I've mentioned... I am not a lawyer. And I don't condone people being dicks. EDIT: In California, the "magic number" of employees below which you can be an open bigot is apparently five. See: http://ag.ca.gov/publications/civilrights/01CRhandbook/chapter2.php http://ag.ca.gov/publications/civilrights/01CRhandbook/chapt...
  - ahoyhere 15y ago
    Don't do it. Go with contractors. Here's the thing: a contractor is running a business, just like you are. If you don't work with them any more, they are not out of "a job." Their livelihood is no longer your responsibility. You are only responsible for paying a set amount you agreed for specific work. If they do not deliver, you do not have to fire them. If you can't afford them any more, you do not have to fire them… you simply don't renew a contract. If it turns out you don't like them, you do not have to fire them. With contractors, you can also afford to try lots of people without disrupting anyone's lives or running out of money. You have freedom and they have other clients. Firing people is the absolute worst, I can tell you for a fact… and I'm a person who fully embraces difficult experiences and has no problem admitting when she's wrong. Even if you want to keep the employee (and based on what I learned & then heard from EVERYONE, the chances you'll keep your first employee are about zero), you will have a hard time sleeping at night because they depend on you and you may find your whole job becomes ensuring you earn enough to pay them. (A good rule of thumb is that you must have at minimum 150% of their salary on a monthly basis. More for non-US countries.) People will say xyz about contractors -- they're not invested, they have other pots on the stove, blah blah blah. The same is true of employees, but they are harder and so much more painful to get rid of, and it hurts them a lot more. The trick is the right people. Finding the right contractor is absolutely possible, and it's much less stress to be wrong than it is when you are wrong about an employee. For one, you can hire people for small getting-to-know-you projects. You're not going to find it easy to do that with an employee. Moreover, once a person is an employee, their behavior may completely change… being employed (and being an employer!) brings out all kinds of crazy psychological crap you never would have believed possible. So, yeah. Don't do it!
    - zalambar 15y ago
      I am a contractor and part of a larger consulting shop so I'm biased but I have to agree with ahoyhere. You get a reliable burn rate which is adjustable on a schedule you can negotiate. If you're hiring a team of contractors you should get a group who have proven that they have an effective and efficient process for working together which they can apply from day 1 and you can probably scale the size of the team based on your needs and budget. When your needs change or you pivot and you need an expert in a new technology which I don't know I'm happy to walk away or swap places with one of my peers who may be a better fit. I'm also fortunate enough to have coworkers lining up future projects so neither you nor I need to worry about what I'm going to do if you no longer need me or just need to slow down development an focus your resources elsewhere. I'm certainly not invested in your startup the same way an employee might be. I'm not going to work crazy hours and I'm not going to pull off long shot programmer heroics (well not unless that's what you ask for). Instead I can measure my success only by the quality of the work I produce and the value I can deliver to you immediately. Building the tools you need to validate a product-market fit or get a MVP in front of users is often my end goal, not an incremental step towards hopefully seeing a return on some equity share. If I'm lucky I'm helping a startup build a new product every couple of months. I think that offers a breadth of experience which relatively few prospective full time hires can match. Startups will need employees and employees invested in and committed to their long term success. So while your looking for the perfect first employee, the one who has the combination of personality, skills, passion, and mindset you need, consider if the right contractors might let you get a lot done in the mean time.
  - einhverfr 15y ago
    I am a fan of contracting with an eye to hire. You get a chance to get to know someone and then if the relationship works, you can hire him or her.
smartbear 15y ago
You simply need to set expectations according to the truth. If you have 6 months of their salary banked, tell them that. If you're uncertain you can pay them, tell them and hire people who are OK with that.
- jarin 15y ago
  Haha yeah, that's probably the REAL hurdle. Banking 6 months salary as a solo consultant. Good excuse as any other to raise rates again :)
  - deleted 15y ago
    [deleted]
- einhverfr 15y ago
  Agreed. Also if you are hiring employee number 1 as a startup rather than just a small business, you are looking for a business partner, essentially. If you are applying for a position like this, it's important to ask all relevant accounting questions. If you are hiring someone, it's important to provide accurate information on the cash inflow and outflow on the business. Also, my father always taught me, "the employees get paid first." That means if it is just an employee you are hiring, the question isn't whether you can afford to pay them, it's whether there is money left over when you get done to pay yourself.

by jarin 15y ago

I know a decent number of people I would want to be my first hire, and I think they might be interested. The biggest mental hurdle for me is "How can I ensure that I can pay them every month?"

smallegan 15y ago

I'm with you here, how much cash should I have banked before I hire employee #1?

jarin 15y ago
It's starting to get to the point where I have so much work that I need some help, but on the other hand I'm ok with taking the risk of eating ramen and potatoes for weeks at a time if I have to (mostly if I have trouble collecting from a client). A lot of people have suggested contracting out work, which seems good but it has its own problems. I would rather have someone completely on board. I have half a mind to just jump in the deep end and trust that I'll be able to swim, but having someone depend on you for income is much different than just putting your own well-being and comfort at risk.
- tomjen3 15y ago
  I know what you mean. Personally I can live in a much smaller apartment and I don't mind sharing a kitchen so much (unless the other guys are complete slops and never clean anything) but if I had a SO I wouldn't risk it. Humans are such silly creatures...
- smallegan 15y ago
  This raises the question, is it better to hire young unmarried developers with no kids if only to clear your conscience knowing that if things go badly you aren't putting an entire families well being in jeopardy.
  - petercooper 15y ago
    I think it is, but you'd need to exercise this idea discreetly, as if you make this preference known you could run into discriminatory hiring practice issues. (The sad fact is, people still discriminate - they just don't talk about it anymore.)
    - damncabbage 15y ago
      It's a bit late now; this thread will probably show up during discovery if he ends up in court over it.
    - smallegan 15y ago
      I'm merely posing a question and saying all things equal it may be more advantageous to hire the candidate without a family.
  - ahoyhere 15y ago
    In the US at least, and Europe, that is illegal discrimination.
    - stickfigure 15y ago
      IANAL, but I do not believe discrimination laws in the US apply to businesses with 15 or fewer employees.
      - xxpor 15y ago
        Where the heck did you hear this? This means I could open a hardware store, and a black person would come in for an interview, and I could be like "Black people need not apply"? That sounds awfully ridiculous.
        stickfigure 15y ago
        In the US there are a wide variety of laws at both state and federal level affecting employment discrimination, but all of the laws I am familiar with have a "small business exception". See: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Employment_discrimination_law_in_the_United_States http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Employment_discrimination_law_i... On the other hand, state and local laws may add additional restrictions beyond federal laws and as I've mentioned... I am not a lawyer. And I don't condone people being dicks. EDIT: In California, the "magic number" of employees below which you can be an open bigot is apparently five. See: http://ag.ca.gov/publications/civilrights/01CRhandbook/chapter2.php http://ag.ca.gov/publications/civilrights/01CRhandbook/chapt...
- ahoyhere 15y ago
  Don't do it. Go with contractors. Here's the thing: a contractor is running a business, just like you are. If you don't work with them any more, they are not out of "a job." Their livelihood is no longer your responsibility. You are only responsible for paying a set amount you agreed for specific work. If they do not deliver, you do not have to fire them. If you can't afford them any more, you do not have to fire them… you simply don't renew a contract. If it turns out you don't like them, you do not have to fire them. With contractors, you can also afford to try lots of people without disrupting anyone's lives or running out of money. You have freedom and they have other clients. Firing people is the absolute worst, I can tell you for a fact… and I'm a person who fully embraces difficult experiences and has no problem admitting when she's wrong. Even if you want to keep the employee (and based on what I learned & then heard from EVERYONE, the chances you'll keep your first employee are about zero), you will have a hard time sleeping at night because they depend on you and you may find your whole job becomes ensuring you earn enough to pay them. (A good rule of thumb is that you must have at minimum 150% of their salary on a monthly basis. More for non-US countries.) People will say xyz about contractors -- they're not invested, they have other pots on the stove, blah blah blah. The same is true of employees, but they are harder and so much more painful to get rid of, and it hurts them a lot more. The trick is the right people. Finding the right contractor is absolutely possible, and it's much less stress to be wrong than it is when you are wrong about an employee. For one, you can hire people for small getting-to-know-you projects. You're not going to find it easy to do that with an employee. Moreover, once a person is an employee, their behavior may completely change… being employed (and being an employer!) brings out all kinds of crazy psychological crap you never would have believed possible. So, yeah. Don't do it!
  - zalambar 15y ago
    I am a contractor and part of a larger consulting shop so I'm biased but I have to agree with ahoyhere. You get a reliable burn rate which is adjustable on a schedule you can negotiate. If you're hiring a team of contractors you should get a group who have proven that they have an effective and efficient process for working together which they can apply from day 1 and you can probably scale the size of the team based on your needs and budget. When your needs change or you pivot and you need an expert in a new technology which I don't know I'm happy to walk away or swap places with one of my peers who may be a better fit. I'm also fortunate enough to have coworkers lining up future projects so neither you nor I need to worry about what I'm going to do if you no longer need me or just need to slow down development an focus your resources elsewhere. I'm certainly not invested in your startup the same way an employee might be. I'm not going to work crazy hours and I'm not going to pull off long shot programmer heroics (well not unless that's what you ask for). Instead I can measure my success only by the quality of the work I produce and the value I can deliver to you immediately. Building the tools you need to validate a product-market fit or get a MVP in front of users is often my end goal, not an incremental step towards hopefully seeing a return on some equity share. If I'm lucky I'm helping a startup build a new product every couple of months. I think that offers a breadth of experience which relatively few prospective full time hires can match. Startups will need employees and employees invested in and committed to their long term success. So while your looking for the perfect first employee, the one who has the combination of personality, skills, passion, and mindset you need, consider if the right contractors might let you get a lot done in the mean time.
- einhverfr 15y ago
  I am a fan of contracting with an eye to hire. You get a chance to get to know someone and then if the relationship works, you can hire him or her.

smartbear 15y ago

You simply need to set expectations according to the truth. If you have 6 months of their salary banked, tell them that. If you're uncertain you can pay them, tell them and hire people who are OK with that.

jarin 15y ago
Haha yeah, that's probably the REAL hurdle. Banking 6 months salary as a solo consultant. Good excuse as any other to raise rates again :)
- deleted 15y ago
  [deleted]
einhverfr 15y ago
Agreed. Also if you are hiring employee number 1 as a startup rather than just a small business, you are looking for a business partner, essentially. If you are applying for a position like this, it's important to ask all relevant accounting questions. If you are hiring someone, it's important to provide accurate information on the cash inflow and outflow on the business. Also, my father always taught me, "the employees get paid first." That means if it is just an employee you are hiring, the question isn't whether you can afford to pay them, it's whether there is money left over when you get done to pay yourself.