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You're missing a key reason why annual salaries are modest at the beginning. A key attribute of a founding team is intense resourcefulness and have considerable
by pbreit 12y ago
You're missing a key reason why annual salaries are modest at the beginning. A key attribute of a founding team is intense resourcefulness and have considerable powers of persuasion. Both of these attributes result in lower salaries initially.
- freyr 12y agoI guess my concern is how salaries grow with experience, in a place with cost of living comparable to or higher than Manhattan. A software engineer, a management consultant, a white shoe lawyer, and a banker may all start out at a "modest" $100k-$125k salary. Maybe a bit lower, maybe a bit higher. But in only one of those professions is there a fairly low ceiling for salary growth and a tacit belief that your value decreases with age and belief (or, at least, a tacit belief that younger workers can do "good enough" work with lower pay and longer hours). The consequences of this are why having engineers go all in on a startup with hopes of delayed compensation is a huge ask. Again, people are happy to do it, so it's not Sam's problem. It's certainly not my problem. But this system has grown dependent on a continuous stream high-profile IPOs making the gamblers rich, drawing in new and optimistic workers to take their place. If that stream dries up, I won't want to be anywhere near SF/SV during the fallout.