Keep in mind that a lot of this is why it's pretty shitty to work for a startup, as opposed to another smaller business. Examples: 1. Hire slow; fire fast. I

Keep in mind that a lot of this is why it's pretty shitty to work for a startup, as opposed to another smaller business. Examples: 1. Hire slow; fire fast. If you screw up, you're gone. So much for job security. 17. Hire smart and effective people that are committed to what you’re doing. The last five words there are important. You're ideas aren't important unless they echo ours, so please, don't rock the boat. kthx. See #1. 20. Hire people that you could describe as animals. i.e, hire people that are willing to join your cult and have no outside interests. They'll wear the scars of your whipping as badges of honour. 28. Keep salaries low and equity high. While you're at it, just post "Fuck you" on your door too... they should want to join you just based on the promise of winning the lottery and because they are generally young and ignorant. See #20. I'm being hyperbolic and a little unfair in my criticism in an effort to make a point - working for a startup has all of the downsides and none of the upsides of founding a startup. People quickly wise up to this, which is usually why not many people with families and such commit to the "startup lifestyle". That isn't to say that they avoid startups completely, just that they avoid the ones that treat their employees more like machines than people. You can avoid all this by just doing the opposite of these points in many cases: 1. Hire slow, Fire slow Let people screw up. Trust your hiring process. If they were so great on day one, why are you looking to fire them? Why don't you ask them what's changed? (Note, this doesn't mean never to part ways with anyone) 17. Hire smart and effective people that are committed to what you’re doing. No need to emphasize the obvious. Embrace your employees, and their life changes. Embrace the fact that their thoughts, feelings, desires change as yours do. Work with them, within reason, as much as possible. After all, considering you hired friends of friends, this is your social network you're talking about. 20. Hire people that you could describe as animals. Let people be. Your number one expense should not be high blood pressure medication. Sure, you need the tigers, but you also need people to keep you grounded. Nobody would suggest only hiring men, or only hiring people that play soccer. Don't hire people that only 100% drive. These people (myself included) also have a tendency to slip into pure assholedome. You need more than a bunch of assholes. 28. Keep salaries low and equity high. I think this is self explanatory. Don't exploit people if you don't want to deal with "firing fast" every second month. Your employees have tremendous risk in joining a new, unproven startup with little to no income. They should receive a salary that reflects this, unless you're partnering with them and bringing them on as part of ownership.