7 ms·

This entire thesis is a red herring. I doubt we've ever had a conversation with a startup about what sort of benefits they should offer. Since the startups in

by pg 14y ago

This entire thesis is a red herring. I doubt we've ever had a conversation with a startup about what sort of benefits they should offer. Since the startups in a position to hire lots of people will presumably have raised money from later stage investors, if anyone is giving them advice about this, it would probably be them. FWIW, if anyone did ask my advice about what benefits to offer, I'd tell them to err on the side of generosity. I certainly tell them to err on that side with equity grants.

zallarak 14y ago
Interesting you say this, because when I was an employee at a YC company, I was told that YC partners thought I was overpaid (while making "below market" and working lots of overtime and heavily contributing, and basically using my necessity as leverage to negotiate what partners thought was an 'overpaid' salary). NOTE: I am very grateful for my time there, but I wanted to point this out.
- michaelochurch 14y ago
  I have no idea who you are or what company you worked for, but a lot of things are blamed on "investors" that are actually management's own detested ideas. It's a somewhat dishonest negotiation tactic: It's Not Up To Me. It's unfair that YC is being singled out here. These are genuine VC-istan issues, not limited to YC startups. All of the YC founders I know are great, but sample size is small.
guptaneil 14y ago
I'd argue that being less generous with benefits is a good filter for hiring candidates that are genuinely interested in what the startup's doing (which is crucial in early employees) rather than somebody who's just looking for another job, like the author. Edit: To clarify, there is huge difference between offering no benefits and offering fewer benefits than a large company. I'm not advocating treating employees like crap. I'm saying that there is a potential benefit to startups who don't try to compete on monetary benefits. Startups should provide as many benefits as possible, but not worry about competing with the financial packages that a large company can provide. Also, if you disagree, please give your reasoning below. Downvoting to show disagreement just seems lazy.
- kevingibbon 14y ago
  If your startup is well funded you should offer these benefits. You should want to reward the people who work so hard for you. These benefits also make an employees life easier, giving them more time to spend on your precious startup. There are other ways to weed out the "another job" candidates.
  - Mamady 14y ago
    These are not "another job" candidates. These are A grade candidates who are not desparate enough to take any lame offer they get (unlike recent grads with little experience). When someone in the valley says "there is a shortage of talent", what they really mean is... there is a shortage of "talent willing to work for a pathetic salary".
- avenger123 14y ago
  This is a good point, so why not just come out and say it! I see a lot about how these start-ups state "competitive salary, great compensation, etc." Instead, just say, "hey, we will pay you crap but come work for us anyway because you believe in our idea." Somehow, I don't think that would get traction, when its put that way.
  - dinkumthinkum 14y ago
    You might want to add "... and you think we are cool personalities and you want us to get rich of the back of your labor." :)
- argonaut 14y ago
  I call BS. Sure, you could spin it that way. You could also spin it the other way: a startup that doesn't offer benefits doesn't care about making their employees' lives easier, and thus not offering benefits is a negative signal to potential employees.
  - guptaneil 14y ago
    Just because a startup doesn't offer lots of monetary benefits doesn't mean it doesn't respect its employees. Generally, the advantage of a startup is that you get far greater independence and autonomy than in a large corporation. You have to personally weigh what matters to you more: money or independence. My point was that startups should favor employees who want independence more than money because as it has been said above, being an employee at a startup is a losing proposition. At least the startup will have optimized for hiring people that are ok with that.
vinceguidry 14y ago
I would have assumed that a deep conversation on hiring would be part of the YC program, as it is indeed non-trivial yet essential, but from this post and re-reading the "What happens at Y Combinator" page, it appears that YC is mostly geared towards getting founders funding. There just isn't enough time in the day to convey everything.
- pg 14y ago
  It's not so much that we don't have time as that hiring is not the startups' focus at the early stage where we spend most time with them. We mostly talk about what to build and how to get users.
dools 14y ago
You do skew quite young in your choice of founder, though don't you? I didn't see anything in the article state that you guys were explicitly advising founders to do these things. One of the first things the OP says is: "YC seems to be a cult which is quite adept at turning college students into millionaires while creating billions of dollars of wealth for Venture Capitalists." So the outcomes he's referring to may just be a direct result of the level of prior business experience amongst people you accept into the program.
- pg 14y ago
  Last batch the median age was 27. http://blog.statwing.com/a-statistical-portrait-of-a-y-combinator-batch/ http://blog.statwing.com/a-statistical-portrait-of-a-y-combi...

by pg 14y ago

zallarak 14y ago

Interesting you say this, because when I was an employee at a YC company, I was told that YC partners thought I was overpaid (while making "below market" and working lots of overtime and heavily contributing, and basically using my necessity as leverage to negotiate what partners thought was an 'overpaid' salary). NOTE: I am very grateful for my time there, but I wanted to point this out.

michaelochurch 14y ago
I have no idea who you are or what company you worked for, but a lot of things are blamed on "investors" that are actually management's own detested ideas. It's a somewhat dishonest negotiation tactic: It's Not Up To Me. It's unfair that YC is being singled out here. These are genuine VC-istan issues, not limited to YC startups. All of the YC founders I know are great, but sample size is small.

guptaneil 14y ago

I'd argue that being less generous with benefits is a good filter for hiring candidates that are genuinely interested in what the startup's doing (which is crucial in early employees) rather than somebody who's just looking for another job, like the author. Edit: To clarify, there is huge difference between offering no benefits and offering fewer benefits than a large company. I'm not advocating treating employees like crap. I'm saying that there is a potential benefit to startups who don't try to compete on monetary benefits. Startups should provide as many benefits as possible, but not worry about competing with the financial packages that a large company can provide. Also, if you disagree, please give your reasoning below. Downvoting to show disagreement just seems lazy.

kevingibbon 14y ago
If your startup is well funded you should offer these benefits. You should want to reward the people who work so hard for you. These benefits also make an employees life easier, giving them more time to spend on your precious startup. There are other ways to weed out the "another job" candidates.
- Mamady 14y ago
  These are not "another job" candidates. These are A grade candidates who are not desparate enough to take any lame offer they get (unlike recent grads with little experience). When someone in the valley says "there is a shortage of talent", what they really mean is... there is a shortage of "talent willing to work for a pathetic salary".
avenger123 14y ago
This is a good point, so why not just come out and say it! I see a lot about how these start-ups state "competitive salary, great compensation, etc." Instead, just say, "hey, we will pay you crap but come work for us anyway because you believe in our idea." Somehow, I don't think that would get traction, when its put that way.
- dinkumthinkum 14y ago
  You might want to add "... and you think we are cool personalities and you want us to get rich of the back of your labor." :)
argonaut 14y ago
I call BS. Sure, you could spin it that way. You could also spin it the other way: a startup that doesn't offer benefits doesn't care about making their employees' lives easier, and thus not offering benefits is a negative signal to potential employees.
- guptaneil 14y ago
  Just because a startup doesn't offer lots of monetary benefits doesn't mean it doesn't respect its employees. Generally, the advantage of a startup is that you get far greater independence and autonomy than in a large corporation. You have to personally weigh what matters to you more: money or independence. My point was that startups should favor employees who want independence more than money because as it has been said above, being an employee at a startup is a losing proposition. At least the startup will have optimized for hiring people that are ok with that.

vinceguidry 14y ago

I would have assumed that a deep conversation on hiring would be part of the YC program, as it is indeed non-trivial yet essential, but from this post and re-reading the "What happens at Y Combinator" page, it appears that YC is mostly geared towards getting founders funding. There just isn't enough time in the day to convey everything.

pg 14y ago
It's not so much that we don't have time as that hiring is not the startups' focus at the early stage where we spend most time with them. We mostly talk about what to build and how to get users.

dools 14y ago

You do skew quite young in your choice of founder, though don't you? I didn't see anything in the article state that you guys were explicitly advising founders to do these things. One of the first things the OP says is: "YC seems to be a cult which is quite adept at turning college students into millionaires while creating billions of dollars of wealth for Venture Capitalists." So the outcomes he's referring to may just be a direct result of the level of prior business experience amongst people you accept into the program.

pg 14y ago
Last batch the median age was 27. http://blog.statwing.com/a-statistical-portrait-of-a-y-combinator-batch/ http://blog.statwing.com/a-statistical-portrait-of-a-y-combi...