I recall the event in 2012. It was interesting. Justin.tv basically was really looking for someone to help with the onerous task of operations -- but the presenter was upfront about such. I recall another startup, can't recall the name, where phrases like "we are a family", "we stay late to meet with our customers" etc were thrown around. Multiple people around me were shaking their head.
Both were honest and up front, but trying to play up the fact that "we live to work" played about as well as a piano falling off a crane onto Wiley Coyote.
> Both were honest and up front, but trying to play up the fact that "we live to work" played about as well as a piano falling off a crane onto Wiley Coyote.
I'd say the honesty is merely the minimum required level of courtesy and respect. The reaction is understandable, especially considering that, for example, by then JTV was 5 years old. If ops is truly still onerous by that point, then candidates would be right to suspect there's something awry with management.
I do hope that this is something that's being addressed by YC, that some founders have the expectation of their early (and sometimes not so early) employees of having the same loyalty or buy-in as they do. If your entire employee option pool is 10%, it's not reasonable to ask even employee #1 for that.
Both were honest and up front, but trying to play up the fact that "we live to work" played about as well as a piano falling off a crane onto Wiley Coyote.