This may just be a personal viewpoint but I no longer see the distinction between a startup and another company, not when I'm the senior developer coming in to head up the team. In London in particular it feels more like a marketing term to attract more naïve talent, which isn't necessarily a bad thing (corporate/enterprise still has a pretty uncharitable perception, for better or worse). You can find yourself working for a startup that has existed for four or five years, hasn't properly launched their product or found their place in the market, and on some level has stagnated.
I've no experience with the tech world in the US (or SF really), neither YC, so maybe the conditions there are different, but my vague thoughts are this (and these are usually the things I assess when I'm interviewing with any company, it's rare that everything is checked so it becomes a matter of trade-offs):
- I'm more passionate about building out a nascent product that really touches me than I am about working for a startup. There is vision, it aligns with my values, I'm confident I can help make it happen and I want to be part of it. That it happens to be the idea of a startup isn't relevant because I'm looking for fulfilment, not a cash-out. Appealing to making my day-to-day comfortable and productive, while also respecting my worth, is a good way to get me on board with that.
- With that in mind, coming in with the pitch that I have to sacrifice a fair bit in order to make this dream come true - low salary, higher equity, 10+ hour workdays/no sustainable pace - isn't going to work unless it's an intensely special idea. That means respecting boundaries about when work happens and when work doesn't, with the reasonable expectation that sometimes there might be a bit of flexibility.
- Speaking of boundaries. Fucking stop it with the mandatory fun. I love a beer with the crew as much as anyone but turning every single potential social gathering into a bacchanalian fuck-fest or making alcohol as available as possible inside the office just isn't motivating. Give me a reason to leave the place and enjoy the outside world and socialise naturally, and think of more exciting things than straight up parties if you want to do company get-togethers.
- If not fully remote, then at least temporarily remote. This is mutually beneficial if the startup is mature about it, because it means you can enjoy a change of scenery without going totally off the grid.
- Respecting experience. If I pass muster as the senior/experienced programmer you need then I expect that you're paying me because you're interested in my input, not to micromanage me. Let me bring something to the table.
I actually think you're far more likely to fulfil these wishes at many startups, and massive corporate outfits may be slower to respond to that kind of thing. But then it raises the important question: if you're moving the needle in favour of employees, how do you allow them to influence these cultural concerns?
I've no experience with the tech world in the US (or SF really), neither YC, so maybe the conditions there are different, but my vague thoughts are this (and these are usually the things I assess when I'm interviewing with any company, it's rare that everything is checked so it becomes a matter of trade-offs):
- I'm more passionate about building out a nascent product that really touches me than I am about working for a startup. There is vision, it aligns with my values, I'm confident I can help make it happen and I want to be part of it. That it happens to be the idea of a startup isn't relevant because I'm looking for fulfilment, not a cash-out. Appealing to making my day-to-day comfortable and productive, while also respecting my worth, is a good way to get me on board with that.
- With that in mind, coming in with the pitch that I have to sacrifice a fair bit in order to make this dream come true - low salary, higher equity, 10+ hour workdays/no sustainable pace - isn't going to work unless it's an intensely special idea. That means respecting boundaries about when work happens and when work doesn't, with the reasonable expectation that sometimes there might be a bit of flexibility.
- Speaking of boundaries. Fucking stop it with the mandatory fun. I love a beer with the crew as much as anyone but turning every single potential social gathering into a bacchanalian fuck-fest or making alcohol as available as possible inside the office just isn't motivating. Give me a reason to leave the place and enjoy the outside world and socialise naturally, and think of more exciting things than straight up parties if you want to do company get-togethers.
- If not fully remote, then at least temporarily remote. This is mutually beneficial if the startup is mature about it, because it means you can enjoy a change of scenery without going totally off the grid.
- Respecting experience. If I pass muster as the senior/experienced programmer you need then I expect that you're paying me because you're interested in my input, not to micromanage me. Let me bring something to the table.
I actually think you're far more likely to fulfil these wishes at many startups, and massive corporate outfits may be slower to respond to that kind of thing. But then it raises the important question: if you're moving the needle in favour of employees, how do you allow them to influence these cultural concerns?