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> "But you will avoid many of the annoying things that come with a job, including a boss telling you what to do." Isn't this a bit misleading and can only be t

> "But you will avoid many of the annoying things that come with a job, including a boss telling you what to do." Isn't this a bit misleading and can only be true for companies that don't take VC money or never go public (ex: Basecamp/37 Signals)? For VC funded or public companies, ultimately you'd have to be responsible to answer to your shareholders.

Kwpolska 3y ago
Exactly: instead of a boss, you get venture capitalists, plus you probably don’t have that pesky work-life balance either.
- rvnx 3y ago
  Not a problem. You don't need work-life balance when you are living in a garage in San Francisco eating ramen on debt that you got from vulture capital.
  - deleted 3y ago
    [deleted]
quatrefoil 3y ago
Right, and from all my friends who did take VC money: it's an incredibly demanding period of your life, a large proportion of which isn't about delivering on your vision. You're gonna learn a lot about office space leases, accounting, fundraising, customer pitches, etc. You're gonna have impatient VCs on your board, with the power to fire you, breathing down your neck. You won't be relaxing much and won't be spending that much time with family and non-work friends. It's a valuable experience with a lot of potential upside in the long haul - but let's not pretend that it's less taxing than a cozy 9-to-5 tech job where your boss might ask you to update your OKRs once in a while.
- bootsmann 3y ago
  Usually by the time VCs have the power to fire you, you have so many different investors that they cannot really do it without some massively difficult political manouvering, at least in software.
  - hobobaggins 3y ago
    Someone better tell that to Elon Musk, Steve Jobs, Sean Parker, and Jack Dorsey.
    - lupire 3y ago
      Tell me more about poor billionaires who suffered the cruel fate of losing their jobs. Every one of those people was incredibly successful before and after getting fired.
romeros 3y ago
Yes, but the VCs trust you to a large extent and they can't delve into the nitty-gritty of daily operations. If they do they will develop a bad reputation. Your boss's job is to oversee the minutiae of your day-to-day activities. Like in most workplaces, you can't choose to just chill for a few days, work only at night, or choose to avoid meetings for a few days, etc. You will have a level autonomy and the ability to change directions/features, etc. that you cannot have working for others.
- nostrademons 3y ago
  A good manager is going to trust you to a large extent and not delve into the nitty-gritty of daily operations. With typical reporting loads in knowledge industries, they can’t - a manager with 10 reports realistically has 1-2 hours/week to spend on their projects once all the team overhead is taken care of. My reports absolutely can chill for a couple days, work only at night, or skip meetings. My job is to get them promoted, which can’t happen until they land projects that demonstrate business impact.
  - lupire 3y ago
    But what a report can't do is change the direction of a company or org leadership that is making bad decisions that lead to impossible demands governed by politics as ultra short-termism. Having the freedom to fail any way I want, but not be empowered to succeed, is a uniquely "employee" problem.
    - nostrademons 3y ago
      Sure, but there are many ways that VCs can force companies into incentive structures that put them in a failing position. If you include stupid executives and poor long-term decisions in the corporate model, you also have to include stupid VCs or board members and poor long-term decisions in the startup model.
immibis 3y ago
That's true, and since Paul Graham's in the role of VC shareholder or something closely related, he would prefer you didn't realize that.
- oblio 3y ago
  Are you telling me that this blog entry is... marketing?!? Oh, my! :-p
paulpauper 3y ago
> "But you will avoid many of the annoying things that come with a job, including a boss telling you what to do." Yeah but that boss is paying you mid 6 figs or even 7, plus comp and other stuff, then maybe it's not so bad. Why else are these tech companies inundated with so many job applications if having a boss is supposed to be so bad. I think this guy is still stuck in a '90s or early 2000s 'Dilbert' mindset when salaries were way worse and bosses had more leverage and employees were closer to being like slaves. A lot has changed. .
- oblio 3y ago
  I agree with you overall but the impression I'm getting is that comp is taking a nose dive for premium jobs. Probably 10% of those pay what they used to, 3-4 years ago and the competition is 100x worse, and it was bad before.
- lupire 3y ago
  Getting mid 6 to 7 figures as a employee is almost exactly as hard as founding a successful startup. The vast majority of employees at the largest, most successful companies, do not earn that much.

Kwpolska 3y ago

Exactly: instead of a boss, you get venture capitalists, plus you probably don’t have that pesky work-life balance either.

rvnx 3y ago
Not a problem. You don't need work-life balance when you are living in a garage in San Francisco eating ramen on debt that you got from vulture capital.
- deleted 3y ago
  [deleted]

quatrefoil 3y ago

Right, and from all my friends who did take VC money: it's an incredibly demanding period of your life, a large proportion of which isn't about delivering on your vision. You're gonna learn a lot about office space leases, accounting, fundraising, customer pitches, etc. You're gonna have impatient VCs on your board, with the power to fire you, breathing down your neck. You won't be relaxing much and won't be spending that much time with family and non-work friends. It's a valuable experience with a lot of potential upside in the long haul - but let's not pretend that it's less taxing than a cozy 9-to-5 tech job where your boss might ask you to update your OKRs once in a while.

bootsmann 3y ago
Usually by the time VCs have the power to fire you, you have so many different investors that they cannot really do it without some massively difficult political manouvering, at least in software.
- hobobaggins 3y ago
  Someone better tell that to Elon Musk, Steve Jobs, Sean Parker, and Jack Dorsey.
  - lupire 3y ago
    Tell me more about poor billionaires who suffered the cruel fate of losing their jobs. Every one of those people was incredibly successful before and after getting fired.

romeros 3y ago

Yes, but the VCs trust you to a large extent and they can't delve into the nitty-gritty of daily operations. If they do they will develop a bad reputation. Your boss's job is to oversee the minutiae of your day-to-day activities. Like in most workplaces, you can't choose to just chill for a few days, work only at night, or choose to avoid meetings for a few days, etc. You will have a level autonomy and the ability to change directions/features, etc. that you cannot have working for others.

nostrademons 3y ago
A good manager is going to trust you to a large extent and not delve into the nitty-gritty of daily operations. With typical reporting loads in knowledge industries, they can’t - a manager with 10 reports realistically has 1-2 hours/week to spend on their projects once all the team overhead is taken care of. My reports absolutely can chill for a couple days, work only at night, or skip meetings. My job is to get them promoted, which can’t happen until they land projects that demonstrate business impact.
- lupire 3y ago
  But what a report can't do is change the direction of a company or org leadership that is making bad decisions that lead to impossible demands governed by politics as ultra short-termism. Having the freedom to fail any way I want, but not be empowered to succeed, is a uniquely "employee" problem.
  - nostrademons 3y ago
    Sure, but there are many ways that VCs can force companies into incentive structures that put them in a failing position. If you include stupid executives and poor long-term decisions in the corporate model, you also have to include stupid VCs or board members and poor long-term decisions in the startup model.

immibis 3y ago

That's true, and since Paul Graham's in the role of VC shareholder or something closely related, he would prefer you didn't realize that.

oblio 3y ago
Are you telling me that this blog entry is... marketing?!? Oh, my! :-p

paulpauper 3y ago

> "But you will avoid many of the annoying things that come with a job, including a boss telling you what to do." Yeah but that boss is paying you mid 6 figs or even 7, plus comp and other stuff, then maybe it's not so bad. Why else are these tech companies inundated with so many job applications if having a boss is supposed to be so bad. I think this guy is still stuck in a '90s or early 2000s 'Dilbert' mindset when salaries were way worse and bosses had more leverage and employees were closer to being like slaves. A lot has changed. .

oblio 3y ago
I agree with you overall but the impression I'm getting is that comp is taking a nose dive for premium jobs. Probably 10% of those pay what they used to, 3-4 years ago and the competition is 100x worse, and it was bad before.
lupire 3y ago
Getting mid 6 to 7 figures as a employee is almost exactly as hard as founding a successful startup. The vast majority of employees at the largest, most successful companies, do not earn that much.