My response, in two parts:<p>- Whatever<p>- Pay me<p>Here's the baseline: pay your people what they are worth and build something worth building. Everything else - free beer, foosball, catered lunches, tall ceilings, hardwood floors, is just details.<p>This may be my curmudgeon coming out (I'm in my 20s, WTF), but this really rubbed me the wrong way:<p>> <i>"The Possibility of Making a Lot of Money"</i><p>This is a myth that needs to die, and founders need to stop perpetuating it. It's insulting to be approached like that, with the assumption that I'm going to be so wowed by your beanbag chairs and artisanal coffee that I lose the ability to do basic arithmetic.<p>The amount of equity I see being tossed around to employees - even relatively early ones - is pathetically little, while many founders strut around as if they're writing your yacht check personally with a 0.1-0.2% offer.<p>If the amount of equity you're offering is supposed to trump cash, you better be bringing a <i>lot</i> of it to the table. But guess what, you're probably not.<p>If you're not willing to pay market salaries, you can either bring >1%+ equity to the table or GTFO.<p>> <i>"In a successful start-up, the potential financial upside that comes from stock options can far outweigh a low base salary."</i><p><i>LIES</i>[1]<p>[1] Barring Black Swan events.
How to convince me to join your startup: be an interesting person and do interesting things.<p>This could include:<p><pre><code> - making an office that's actually a nice space to be in
- creating an environment that respects constant learning and
knowledge exchange
- structuring the environment around well-considered principals
- writing, and fostering a community of writing (structured thinking)
- being funny, and fostering a community of humor (enjoyment of life)
- having a story about why the problems you are solving are important
and constantly repeating it
- being harshly critical of your mission, constantly re-evaluating
- actively studying philosophy, economics, psychology, business, art,
literature, religion, science, music, etc.
</code></pre>
I didn't read the article.
This is the same article that is posted here every week by a different author.<p>The author always explains how health insurance, pension, benefits, child care, vacation and competitive salary are not important, because those are not things their start up wishes to offer. What the reader is told should be important to them is teamwork and an opportunity to work on something "meaningful", which means what the author is working on and personally interested in. In addition, this is "altruistic" or "nonprofit". And then, stock options will make you rich at this altruistic nonprofit endeavor.
I've got a real problem recruiting smart people to my ideas. Here's the issue from my point of view:<p>Lay people are easy to convert, you can simply answer questions intelligently. Someone with no interest or experience in the area isn't very emotionally invested either way, and can be convinced with ease.<p>On the other hand, those with real knowledge or experience are <i>also</i> easy to sway, but once you show them a glimmer of potential, credibility is on the line. The inevitable response to a good idea is a quick reactionary criticism. "Yeah that's a good idea, but it would be much better if you did X". It seems like a kind of flexing, or posturing to one-up your concept. I've encountered this several times now.<p>My reaction is to exhaustively answer questions and politely offer answers. This tactic seems to be met with defensive resentment, and it really sucks the excitement out of the conversation.<p>This is a real communication problem for me, I'd appreciate any advice.
"Aside from the official interview, we often take candidates to drinks, dinner, or coffee to get to know each other in a more casual environment, and we make sure they have the chance to get to meet multiple members of the team."<p>I really like this one, mainly because it seems to be overlooked by so many companies today. Recruiting smart brains is one thing, but recruiting smart brains that will work well in your company's system, in and outside of the office, is just as important. Meeting in a casual setting is far different from having a business casual interview. Not to mention, taking interviewees out also shows them that the employees also have fun and that is something that everyone their cares about, not just says on their Jobs page.