4 ms·

Succeeding after Demo Day

33 points by ashrust 13y ago

consciousness 13y ago
I see lots of good advice in this article. Rich. Thanks OP!
zosegal 13y ago
Lots of great advice here - as someone looking to apply to YC in the future, I took away a lot from this.
tgoldberg 13y ago
Solid article on the importance of leveraging Demo Day hype to raise a round. As someone who is trying to raise without being in a world renowned accelerator like YC, I only wish I had an opportunity like Demo Day to help the round close quicker.
- ashrust 13y ago
  Agreed, it's a key advantage for YC companies.
cbjaycee 13y ago
I love the advice on responding right away to opportunities. Although clearly important in funding, this should be carried over most, if not all aspects of life. Also agree with the mention of probation for new employees. Your new company will be moving at lightning speed, and you don't have time for babysitting/dead weight.
whbk 13y ago
"At SendHub we’ve let go of about half of the people we’ve hired, most of them within a few weeks of their start date. Looking back at everyone we let go much later, we should’ve terminated them during their probation." Is it just me or is a company's hiring process fubar if they are firing half their hires within 3 weeks (and more thereafter)? I get the need for early stage startups to not let mediocrity seep in, and having a probationary period is great for that, but I'd argue the company is neglecting their end of the bargain if they are apparently so inept at bringing on the right people.
- patmcguire 13y ago
  The hiring process everywhere is a disaster, as far I've seen. Interviews don't really work. If companies operated by giving people a few-week chance to prove themselves they'd be able to give more people more opportunities and have a much better idea of who was worth keeping. But of course, with the current system if you get fired after two weeks you're looking at trying to get hired at a bunch of other companies that are going to view that as a Bad Thing and are going to try to get as much info from a few interviews before they jump into bed with you for years. We're in a bad equilibrium.
- ashrust 13y ago
  I think getting hiring right is a process, we were certainly a lot more hit & miss right after demo day, than we are now.
  - sroussey 13y ago
    May I suggest the one week trial?
    - jayzalowitz 13y ago
      Weighing in from the "Recruiting" Startup industry myself, check out https://grouptalent.com/ https://grouptalent.com/ (which i have nothing to do with) if you are in that hiring mentality, that way everyone knows exactly what is going on and there is a better reaction set all around.
seiji 13y ago
Doesn't a prohibition period on hiring only work if you're hiring children? I can't imagine leaving an existing job only to be not guaranteed a place at a new job if "they don't like me" in the first few weeks. That's what the interview process was supposed to suss out. Does immediate termination come with a three month severance package?
- jedberg 13y ago
  > Doesn't a prohibition period on hiring only work if you're hiring children? ... Does immediate termination come with a three month severance package? My thoughts exactly. You're asking someone to take a big risk with your company by bringing them on on probation. They may be leaving a well-paying, stable job to do it. You have to do something to temper that risk, ideally with a very large severance or something like it.
  - ashrust 13y ago
    We're upfront about the probationary period with all candidates, they start knowing they'll receive a lot of feedback in the first few weeks, they'll get an opportunity to see if it's a fit from their side and also from the team's side.
    - seiji 13y ago
      Perhaps you're firing so many people up front because your policies only attract weird people willing to put up with them?

33 points by ashrust 13y ago

consciousness 13y ago

I see lots of good advice in this article. Rich. Thanks OP!

zosegal 13y ago

Lots of great advice here - as someone looking to apply to YC in the future, I took away a lot from this.

tgoldberg 13y ago

Solid article on the importance of leveraging Demo Day hype to raise a round. As someone who is trying to raise without being in a world renowned accelerator like YC, I only wish I had an opportunity like Demo Day to help the round close quicker.

ashrust 13y ago
Agreed, it's a key advantage for YC companies.

cbjaycee 13y ago

I love the advice on responding right away to opportunities. Although clearly important in funding, this should be carried over most, if not all aspects of life. Also agree with the mention of probation for new employees. Your new company will be moving at lightning speed, and you don't have time for babysitting/dead weight.

whbk 13y ago

"At SendHub we’ve let go of about half of the people we’ve hired, most of them within a few weeks of their start date. Looking back at everyone we let go much later, we should’ve terminated them during their probation." Is it just me or is a company's hiring process fubar if they are firing half their hires within 3 weeks (and more thereafter)? I get the need for early stage startups to not let mediocrity seep in, and having a probationary period is great for that, but I'd argue the company is neglecting their end of the bargain if they are apparently so inept at bringing on the right people.

patmcguire 13y ago
The hiring process everywhere is a disaster, as far I've seen. Interviews don't really work. If companies operated by giving people a few-week chance to prove themselves they'd be able to give more people more opportunities and have a much better idea of who was worth keeping. But of course, with the current system if you get fired after two weeks you're looking at trying to get hired at a bunch of other companies that are going to view that as a Bad Thing and are going to try to get as much info from a few interviews before they jump into bed with you for years. We're in a bad equilibrium.
ashrust 13y ago
I think getting hiring right is a process, we were certainly a lot more hit & miss right after demo day, than we are now.
- sroussey 13y ago
  May I suggest the one week trial?
  - jayzalowitz 13y ago
    Weighing in from the "Recruiting" Startup industry myself, check out https://grouptalent.com/ https://grouptalent.com/ (which i have nothing to do with) if you are in that hiring mentality, that way everyone knows exactly what is going on and there is a better reaction set all around.

seiji 13y ago

Doesn't a prohibition period on hiring only work if you're hiring children? I can't imagine leaving an existing job only to be not guaranteed a place at a new job if "they don't like me" in the first few weeks. That's what the interview process was supposed to suss out. Does immediate termination come with a three month severance package?

jedberg 13y ago
> Doesn't a prohibition period on hiring only work if you're hiring children? ... Does immediate termination come with a three month severance package? My thoughts exactly. You're asking someone to take a big risk with your company by bringing them on on probation. They may be leaving a well-paying, stable job to do it. You have to do something to temper that risk, ideally with a very large severance or something like it.
- ashrust 13y ago
  We're upfront about the probationary period with all candidates, they start knowing they'll receive a lot of feedback in the first few weeks, they'll get an opportunity to see if it's a fit from their side and also from the team's side.
  - seiji 13y ago
    Perhaps you're firing so many people up front because your policies only attract weird people willing to put up with them?