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The types of risk are dramatically different in the old Silicon Valley vs. the new one. In 1965-80, the "risk" was working for a low salary. But there really w

The types of risk are dramatically different in the old Silicon Valley vs. the new one. In 1965-80, the "risk" was working for a low salary. But there really was a talent shortage relative to what society wanted to accomplish. If your startup failed, you could resume a technical career and come out for the better because of what you'd learned. Also, rents were low, so the only "poverty" you were worried about was having to delay your Europe vacation while working on the startup. Making rent wasn't a life-altering concern. In 2014, the numeric financial risk is lower (most startups come close to market salary) but the career risks are huge. We have a talent surplus and a bad startup can damage your resume/reputation enough to put you out of the game.

gallamine 13y ago
> We have a talent surplus What makes you say that?
- michaelochurch 13y ago
  The fact that people can be rejected for jobs over stupid reasons (too young, too old, too many prior jobs, too few prior jobs, not enough or wrong pedigree, too much pedigree) indicates a surplus. In a real talent shortage, you don't need a PhD from Stanford to do interesting work. Where you're from doesn't matter, because there's so much demand for people to work on hard things. There were plenty of smart state-school grads working on NASA programs with much more at stake than a fucking VC-funded web app. When demand for talent is high, that image stuff doesn't matter.
jes5199 13y ago
I don't know if I buy the resume-killer concept. Do you have some examples? maybe it's because I'm a programmer and not a CEO, but it sure seems like at interviews people just skip the boring parts of my resume to talk about the charismatic companies I've worked at, disregarding the gaps. I do know one company (Basho) that refuses to hire anyone who has ever had a negative experience at any job. As a result, they tend to hire young, inexperienced people.
- mattgreenrocks 13y ago
  > I do know one company (Basho) that refuses to hire anyone who has ever had a negative experience at any job Can you elaborate? I'm curious; I may have dodged a bullet here.
  - michaelochurch 13y ago
    That's not a rare attitude ("I never hire unlucky people"). I'd imagine that VCs are the same way. Yes, you'll exclude good people if you cop that attitude, because good people often get unlucky. However, the people you get will be terrified (and manipulable). The purpose of back channel reference checking (or age discrimination) isn't to get good people. It's to scare the shit out of the people you have, so they do what you say without question.
  - jes5199 13y ago
    there's a strain of management books called "Topgrading". The gist is: you, the new founder, are grade A awesome, and you can have a successful company if you only hire other As. Unfortunately, Bs and Cs will show up, and lie about their work history! So you better scrutinize their resume line-by-line. The books teach intimidation tactics meant to flush out inconsistensies in self-reported work history. In reality, it becomes interrogation-style focus, trying to highlight "problems" of any kind.

gallamine 13y ago

> We have a talent surplus What makes you say that?

michaelochurch 13y ago
The fact that people can be rejected for jobs over stupid reasons (too young, too old, too many prior jobs, too few prior jobs, not enough or wrong pedigree, too much pedigree) indicates a surplus. In a real talent shortage, you don't need a PhD from Stanford to do interesting work. Where you're from doesn't matter, because there's so much demand for people to work on hard things. There were plenty of smart state-school grads working on NASA programs with much more at stake than a fucking VC-funded web app. When demand for talent is high, that image stuff doesn't matter.

jes5199 13y ago

I don't know if I buy the resume-killer concept. Do you have some examples? maybe it's because I'm a programmer and not a CEO, but it sure seems like at interviews people just skip the boring parts of my resume to talk about the charismatic companies I've worked at, disregarding the gaps. I do know one company (Basho) that refuses to hire anyone who has ever had a negative experience at any job. As a result, they tend to hire young, inexperienced people.

mattgreenrocks 13y ago
> I do know one company (Basho) that refuses to hire anyone who has ever had a negative experience at any job Can you elaborate? I'm curious; I may have dodged a bullet here.
- michaelochurch 13y ago
  That's not a rare attitude ("I never hire unlucky people"). I'd imagine that VCs are the same way. Yes, you'll exclude good people if you cop that attitude, because good people often get unlucky. However, the people you get will be terrified (and manipulable). The purpose of back channel reference checking (or age discrimination) isn't to get good people. It's to scare the shit out of the people you have, so they do what you say without question.
- jes5199 13y ago
  there's a strain of management books called "Topgrading". The gist is: you, the new founder, are grade A awesome, and you can have a successful company if you only hire other As. Unfortunately, Bs and Cs will show up, and lie about their work history! So you better scrutinize their resume line-by-line. The books teach intimidation tactics meant to flush out inconsistensies in self-reported work history. In reality, it becomes interrogation-style focus, trying to highlight "problems" of any kind.