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My experience at repeatedly starting companies is not that taking risk for yourself is hard -- if you have simple taste, enjoy coding and are articulate enough

by bertil 13y ago

My experience at repeatedly starting companies is not that taking risk for yourself is hard -- if you have simple taste, enjoy coding and are articulate enough to identify a problem and conceive a solution… There is no reason to be, really. I mean: sitting on your ass wondering what to do is pretty much what anyone looking for a job does after that phone-call, and no one has described job seekers as heroes, certainly not developers. What still scares the be-jeezus out of me, and anyone I’ve met is getting someone else involved, pretending that you know your thing and making them, innocent travel companions, crash with you, unaware that it’s all shadows and illusion. I’m assuming that’s why psychopaths are so good at that stage: they can hire ten people that they can’t pay, and not care for the life of them that their baby won’t have formula to eat in two months. (I’ve seen that with my own eyes. Spoiler alert: it cries.) I am not surprised that HomeJoy founder gave her home to those first helpers: with an ounce of human decency, that must have felt like a tenth of the bare minimum she was asking from them. That discomfort must have been less that the inhumane hours. Good on her, and great for her. The fact that Sam Altman fails to see that the problem is generally others scares me.

sama 13y ago
this is one of the many reasons we advise startups not to hire during YC. most startups we work with wait to hire until they have raised enough money to make it reasonably safe to join them. and employees should always ask a startup how much runway they have. if they won't tell you, it's a big red flag.
- bertil 13y ago
  Thank you so much for answering. Employees are the big point, but I have seen that fear even towards non-employees: dependent family members, partners… As someone who’s been burned (hard) by asking that question and trusting the answer many times (Fool me once…), I see as a huge opportunity an audit company that could answer that question accurately, and reasonably well for early start-up: before and after hiring you and the all the profiles being considered.
  - 2arrs2ells 13y ago
    Ask to talk to one of the company's investors if you aren't sure the founder is being upfront about runway. They should have a good handle on the company's cash position (and if they don't, that might be a yellow flag).
    - bertil 13y ago
      Not sure how the relation with investors is in the US, but I can’t imagine them even considering that in any company that I joined. In hindsight, it was a red flag, but I assume there is a cultural gap there.
      - 2arrs2ells 13y ago
        Depends on stage of company, but for my company (Series A, Bay Area, ~25 employees), we'd be happy to connect anyone with a job offer with our lead investor.
- larrys 13y ago
  "and employees should always ask a startup how much runway they have. if they won't tell you, it's a big red flag." To me I remember Ronald Regan saying "trust but verify". While it's nice to get an answer to the question I think, having been in business for a long time, [1] the fact that one gets an answer is not necessarily the end of the investigation or proof of the statement. Point being that if it is important to someone (the answer) before hopping on board it would be appropriate to be shown proof of the fact. (Noting of course that it wouldn't be to difficult to fake that and also noting that you don't have any control over whether the assumptions being made will hold). Worried about insulting someone by implying that you don't trust? Figure out a creative way to put it into the appropriate words to get by that issue. [1] As a kid, before car dealers gave loaner cars, I remember my father being told by each salesman "and if your car is in for service I'll lend you mine for the day".
  - aptwebapps 13y ago
    OT, but I always thought "Respect, but don't trust implicitly" would be a more accurate, if less felicitous, way of putting it. Or at least as I understand the ideal.

by bertil 13y ago

sama 13y ago

this is one of the many reasons we advise startups not to hire during YC. most startups we work with wait to hire until they have raised enough money to make it reasonably safe to join them. and employees should always ask a startup how much runway they have. if they won't tell you, it's a big red flag.

bertil 13y ago
Thank you so much for answering. Employees are the big point, but I have seen that fear even towards non-employees: dependent family members, partners… As someone who’s been burned (hard) by asking that question and trusting the answer many times (Fool me once…), I see as a huge opportunity an audit company that could answer that question accurately, and reasonably well for early start-up: before and after hiring you and the all the profiles being considered.
- 2arrs2ells 13y ago
  Ask to talk to one of the company's investors if you aren't sure the founder is being upfront about runway. They should have a good handle on the company's cash position (and if they don't, that might be a yellow flag).
  - bertil 13y ago
    Not sure how the relation with investors is in the US, but I can’t imagine them even considering that in any company that I joined. In hindsight, it was a red flag, but I assume there is a cultural gap there.
    - 2arrs2ells 13y ago
      Depends on stage of company, but for my company (Series A, Bay Area, ~25 employees), we'd be happy to connect anyone with a job offer with our lead investor.
larrys 13y ago
"and employees should always ask a startup how much runway they have. if they won't tell you, it's a big red flag." To me I remember Ronald Regan saying "trust but verify". While it's nice to get an answer to the question I think, having been in business for a long time, [1] the fact that one gets an answer is not necessarily the end of the investigation or proof of the statement. Point being that if it is important to someone (the answer) before hopping on board it would be appropriate to be shown proof of the fact. (Noting of course that it wouldn't be to difficult to fake that and also noting that you don't have any control over whether the assumptions being made will hold). Worried about insulting someone by implying that you don't trust? Figure out a creative way to put it into the appropriate words to get by that issue. [1] As a kid, before car dealers gave loaner cars, I remember my father being told by each salesman "and if your car is in for service I'll lend you mine for the day".
- aptwebapps 13y ago
  OT, but I always thought "Respect, but don't trust implicitly" would be a more accurate, if less felicitous, way of putting it. Or at least as I understand the ideal.