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> Most early stage companies are wildly optimistic about their future and are at constant risk of going belly up. Yeah, sure. Ideally I'd like to see them bein

> Most early stage companies are wildly optimistic about their future and are at constant risk of going belly up. Yeah, sure. Ideally I'd like to see them being super optimistic in their own mind, and perhaps with potential investors, media etc, but more realistic when communicating with people like prospective employees. I would still have gone through the trial work and all the interviews even if I had known that their finances were shaky, the only difference is that then I wouldn't have stopped my job seeking efforts, and it would also have been less of a shock. Of course, pausing job seeking was my decision and my responsibility, but it wouldn't have cost them anything to be more forthcoming. If changing financial fortunes was indeed the true reason.

phphphphp 4y ago
There’s the need for a sort of… naive is probably the wrong word, but a type of optimism that is more than just being positive, a type of optimism that means you believe deep in your soul that your startup is going to succeed no matter what, and that optimism doesn’t allow for differentiating between internal and external presentation — there’s just optimism. There are founders who will only accept defeat when they are physically unable to make payroll or even when payments to employees start bouncing: that’s bad behaviour but it’s the sort of behaviour that is closely related to the same type of behaviour required to succeed. I completely agree that they would ideally be more open with prospects, people they’re interviewing etc. but I am not sure if that’s something we can expect to get. I spend a lot of time looking at the workatastartup website listings and (perhaps naively) I feel like I can identify which companies are flying by the seat of their pants (and therefore might one day wake up and realise “oh shit, we have to fire the new guy”) vs. the ones that I could expect to disclose to me a few months in advance when things are looking dicey. As applicants, we have to assume the worst and plan accordingly.

phphphphp 4y ago

There’s the need for a sort of… naive is probably the wrong word, but a type of optimism that is more than just being positive, a type of optimism that means you believe deep in your soul that your startup is going to succeed no matter what, and that optimism doesn’t allow for differentiating between internal and external presentation — there’s just optimism. There are founders who will only accept defeat when they are physically unable to make payroll or even when payments to employees start bouncing: that’s bad behaviour but it’s the sort of behaviour that is closely related to the same type of behaviour required to succeed. I completely agree that they would ideally be more open with prospects, people they’re interviewing etc. but I am not sure if that’s something we can expect to get. I spend a lot of time looking at the workatastartup website listings and (perhaps naively) I feel like I can identify which companies are flying by the seat of their pants (and therefore might one day wake up and realise “oh shit, we have to fire the new guy”) vs. the ones that I could expect to disclose to me a few months in advance when things are looking dicey. As applicants, we have to assume the worst and plan accordingly.