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If you ask people to generate a "Christmas wish list" and don't like the result you tell them thanks for their input but unfortunately you can't get them everyt

If you ask people to generate a "Christmas wish list" and don't like the result you tell them thanks for their input but unfortunately you can't get them everything on the list. You literally asked for a wish list and framed it as "congrats it's Christmas" then fired someone. This absurd behavior follows right on your assertion that interviewing and hiring people is hard and expensive. I guess not so hard nor so expensive that you would fire someone for filling out a wish list. This would be akin to disowning my kid because she asked for a pony. You frame startup employees as overworked, overpaid, underperforming, gossipy, disloyal boobs who are going to quit when anything better shows itself. Since this seems to happen a lot, your apparent "solution" to retain them is to invest in office furniture that can always be reused. This "solution" seems to me to highlight a problem you have with your employees rather than a solution to retaining them. Best of luck though.

gsibble 4y ago
We say to make the list reasonable. I believe I said that in the article. And like I said, the primary way we retain talent is by paying about 20-30% above market. This is just an effective perk. Calm down.
- jaclaz 4y ago
  >And like I said, the primary way we retain talent is by paying about 20-30% above market. Only 20-30% above market rate? I thought the idea was to pay them 1.5-2x: https://startupdreams.substack.com/p/my-biggest-lessons-after-doing-my https://startupdreams.substack.com/p/my-biggest-lessons-afte... >Many companies take the approach of hiring lots of cheap engineers. I go the opposite. I hire as few fantastic engineers as I can. The math works out. One fantastic engineer can do 3-5x the work of one normal engineer. Then pay them 1.5-2x the salary of a regular engineer.
- uberman 4y ago
  I'm perfectly calm, you're the one firing employees because you don't like their "Christmas Wish List". Let's say that you didn't like that person's 75k ask (again it was a wish list). Until the slowdown, it was not uncommon for experienced tech talent to get 5 figure start up packages on top of signing bonuses and moving allowances. My wife's last offer included 500k in housing assistance. In that light, a 75k startup package does not, on the surface, seem unreasonable. Since tech workers as so gossipy, I imagine the entire company knows you fired that guy for a bad list. What do you think that does for moral? Honestly, it is no wonder your perspective is that tech employees have no loyalty and leave as soon as they can find something else.

gsibble 4y ago

We say to make the list reasonable. I believe I said that in the article. And like I said, the primary way we retain talent is by paying about 20-30% above market. This is just an effective perk. Calm down.

jaclaz 4y ago
>And like I said, the primary way we retain talent is by paying about 20-30% above market. Only 20-30% above market rate? I thought the idea was to pay them 1.5-2x: https://startupdreams.substack.com/p/my-biggest-lessons-after-doing-my https://startupdreams.substack.com/p/my-biggest-lessons-afte... >Many companies take the approach of hiring lots of cheap engineers. I go the opposite. I hire as few fantastic engineers as I can. The math works out. One fantastic engineer can do 3-5x the work of one normal engineer. Then pay them 1.5-2x the salary of a regular engineer.
uberman 4y ago
I'm perfectly calm, you're the one firing employees because you don't like their "Christmas Wish List". Let's say that you didn't like that person's 75k ask (again it was a wish list). Until the slowdown, it was not uncommon for experienced tech talent to get 5 figure start up packages on top of signing bonuses and moving allowances. My wife's last offer included 500k in housing assistance. In that light, a 75k startup package does not, on the surface, seem unreasonable. Since tech workers as so gossipy, I imagine the entire company knows you fired that guy for a bad list. What do you think that does for moral? Honestly, it is no wonder your perspective is that tech employees have no loyalty and leave as soon as they can find something else.