6 ms·

Ditto. We both burned out. I got fired. CEO got pushed out not long after. Pay yourselves for fucks sake.

benatkin 4y ago
Should avoid thinking in terms of yes or no. It should be the amount being considered, and the amount should be low. The $130k amount in the article is absurd and that's just the starting point.
- rjbwork 4y ago
  Yeah. We started paying ourselves essentially rent+ramen, but you can only do that for so long while not burning out. The truly unfortunate thing is that we were really starting to pick up momentum, and the company now profitably employs a couple dozen people. I think 130k is a pretty reasonable starting salary after investment these days, given market conditions for technically competent folks.
  - onion2k 4y ago
    We started paying ourselves essentially rent+ramen.. The advice I was given when I raised my first round was to pay myself a salary that meant I could focus on growing the business without worrying about personal financial stuff. It was spot on. All your energy should be going on the business. Anyone trying to minimize their spend to the point they can't eat properly, or paying themselves a salary high enough to have a serious impact on runway, would be a major red flag.
- zer0tonin 4y ago
  130k is chump change
  - beebmam 4y ago
    Yeah, good luck hiring anyone except fresh college grads with no experience at that compensation.
    - 3np 4y ago
      The context is what one could consider paying themselves if they assessed their potential market salary at $250k - not what one would pay hires.
- nawgz 4y ago
  I would never work full time (and especially not double time like startups require for their C-suite) for $130k, I'd far prefer to bootstrap my own business instead if that's the rate
  - DiggyJohnson 4y ago
    130k is a very reasonable compensation for early-mid career folks in many places. Assuming your a dev, what sector+region are you in? I'm always fascinated by compensation conversations on HN, because they seem to come from a place of... very high expectations. Don't know how to say that without sounding snarky, that's not my intent. Curious.
    - deleted 4y ago
      [deleted]
    - ianbutler 4y ago
      Without giving exact information I make more than double that as a senior engineer in NJ working remotely for a non-faang but still big public tech co with approx 10 years professional xp, but I have been writing code for much longer, just shy of 20 years. My area is data engineering and internal tools and devops too depending on the role.
    - geraldwhen 4y ago
      I’m in the southeast and also make double that. 130k total comp is entry level. I know this because I hired many people last year and some were entry level.
    - FredPret 4y ago
      Why shouldn’t very smart people who have also spent years / decades developing technical skills in an industry that is eating the world and is the most profitable thing ever… get paid less than you need to buy a house? If they don’t make high six/low seven figures, who will? Bankers? Lawyers!?
      - benatkin 4y ago

Should avoid thinking in terms of yes or no. It should be the amount being considered, and the amount should be low. The $130k amount in the article is absurd and that's just the starting point.

rjbwork 4y ago
Yeah. We started paying ourselves essentially rent+ramen, but you can only do that for so long while not burning out. The truly unfortunate thing is that we were really starting to pick up momentum, and the company now profitably employs a couple dozen people. I think 130k is a pretty reasonable starting salary after investment these days, given market conditions for technically competent folks.
- onion2k 4y ago
  We started paying ourselves essentially rent+ramen.. The advice I was given when I raised my first round was to pay myself a salary that meant I could focus on growing the business without worrying about personal financial stuff. It was spot on. All your energy should be going on the business. Anyone trying to minimize their spend to the point they can't eat properly, or paying themselves a salary high enough to have a serious impact on runway, would be a major red flag.
zer0tonin 4y ago
130k is chump change
- beebmam 4y ago
  Yeah, good luck hiring anyone except fresh college grads with no experience at that compensation.
  - 3np 4y ago
    The context is what one could consider paying themselves if they assessed their potential market salary at $250k - not what one would pay hires.
nawgz 4y ago
I would never work full time (and especially not double time like startups require for their C-suite) for $130k, I'd far prefer to bootstrap my own business instead if that's the rate
- DiggyJohnson 4y ago
  130k is a very reasonable compensation for early-mid career folks in many places. Assuming your a dev, what sector+region are you in? I'm always fascinated by compensation conversations on HN, because they seem to come from a place of... very high expectations. Don't know how to say that without sounding snarky, that's not my intent. Curious.
  - deleted 4y ago
    [deleted]
  - ianbutler 4y ago
    Without giving exact information I make more than double that as a senior engineer in NJ working remotely for a non-faang but still big public tech co with approx 10 years professional xp, but I have been writing code for much longer, just shy of 20 years. My area is data engineering and internal tools and devops too depending on the role.
  - geraldwhen 4y ago
    I’m in the southeast and also make double that. 130k total comp is entry level. I know this because I hired many people last year and some were entry level.
  - FredPret 4y ago
    Why shouldn’t very smart people who have also spent years / decades developing technical skills in an industry that is eating the world and is the most profitable thing ever… get paid less than you need to buy a house? If they don’t make high six/low seven figures, who will? Bankers? Lawyers!?
    - benatkin 4y ago