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> I'm pretty sure I'd have no trouble hiring good developers. Honest question -- you have a bit of a reputation, I'd say mainly from your Hacker News rants. Do

by yid 13y ago

> I'm pretty sure I'd have no trouble hiring good developers. Honest question -- you have a bit of a reputation, I'd say mainly from your Hacker News rants. Do you think that those will help or hurt your recruitment prospects?

michaelochurch 13y ago
Honest question -- you have a bit of a reputation, I'd say mainly from your Hacker News rants. Do you think that those will help or hurt your recruitment prospects? In the short term, it makes me unfundable (but that's OK, because I'm not interested in raising money right now-- too many douchebags in the game) because I've brought out too many unpleasant truths, but would be neutral-to-positive if I were the one doing the hiring. In the long term, I think it's favorable, because I think (hope) that the culture will evolve to a point where I seem prescient rather than pugnacious. If I'm wrong, and the startup culture devolves, then, I don't want to be a part of it anyway.
- victorf 13y ago
  I have a lot of respect for your no-bullshit attitude towards VC-funded companies. I don't see why that would appear as a downside to employees. Most of what I've read is you talking about what a shitty deal it is for the employees; obviously you're imagining some kind of fairer compensation and I think that's nothing but a plus.
  - michaelochurch 13y ago
    I agree. But I think that traditional VCs would be reluctant to fund me. I'm a known publicity risk; so they'd have to find a way to sell it as upside (we're so forward thinking that this guy endorsed us). LBJ had a darker view of that dynamic, "I'd rather have him in the tent pissing out than outside of the tent pissing in". In the long term, everything I've said will seem prescient. But I'm pretty sure my chances of getting VC funding right now are zero. Those chances were never strong, because I wasn't born into that kind of connections, but I've pissed a lot of people off. That's OK, because I'm interested in starting something when the scene is clotted with douches. I'd rather wait 5-7 years for the douche tide to go out.

by yid 13y ago

michaelochurch 13y ago

Honest question -- you have a bit of a reputation, I'd say mainly from your Hacker News rants. Do you think that those will help or hurt your recruitment prospects? In the short term, it makes me unfundable (but that's OK, because I'm not interested in raising money right now-- too many douchebags in the game) because I've brought out too many unpleasant truths, but would be neutral-to-positive if I were the one doing the hiring. In the long term, I think it's favorable, because I think (hope) that the culture will evolve to a point where I seem prescient rather than pugnacious. If I'm wrong, and the startup culture devolves, then, I don't want to be a part of it anyway.

victorf 13y ago
I have a lot of respect for your no-bullshit attitude towards VC-funded companies. I don't see why that would appear as a downside to employees. Most of what I've read is you talking about what a shitty deal it is for the employees; obviously you're imagining some kind of fairer compensation and I think that's nothing but a plus.
- michaelochurch 13y ago
  I agree. But I think that traditional VCs would be reluctant to fund me. I'm a known publicity risk; so they'd have to find a way to sell it as upside (we're so forward thinking that this guy endorsed us). LBJ had a darker view of that dynamic, "I'd rather have him in the tent pissing out than outside of the tent pissing in". In the long term, everything I've said will seem prescient. But I'm pretty sure my chances of getting VC funding right now are zero. Those chances were never strong, because I wasn't born into that kind of connections, but I've pissed a lot of people off. That's OK, because I'm interested in starting something when the scene is clotted with douches. I'd rather wait 5-7 years for the douche tide to go out.