Going to work for a startup

[A Potted Plant]

Just looking for some advise and guidance

I've just received an offer with is about 30% more than what I currently make, 10% signing bonus, equity, a shit ton of time off, 100% of premium covered and a jump up in position from Data Analyst to Data Engineer.

How do I judge a start up's financial health?
What should I look out for?

I also just scheduled 2 meetings to review offers from two other places for Friday downside is those are DA roles but they're established companies.

 

[Norm]

Let me know if you want to talk IRL about this. I’ve done a few start-ups in my years and would be happy to discuss.

 

[Patrick]

Do you believe in the product?
Do you believe in the Owner?
Do you believe in the Management?

If yes - startup! You are going to bust your ass, and it will be so worth it when one of the "established" companies buy you
and those penny options fund your retirement, and a few other toys.
If it fails, you'll be able to quickly re-establish if you are getting multiple offers now.

good luck!!

 

[MMuller]

Dang, I had to go and be a musician....

 

[A Potted Plant]

Let me know if you want to talk IRL about this. I’ve done a few start-ups in my years and would be happy to discuss.

I'll text you tomorrow, I really appreciate this

 

[JimN]

Welcome to the promised land.

How do I judge a start up's financial health?

Depends on what stage they are at (have they done any funding rounds?), and how open management is with their employees. I'd say it doesn't really matter though. This is clearly a big promotion and raise for you, so even if the company implodes, you'll still come out better than you went in.

If there is one piece of advice I can give you that I wish someone gave me, it's to start reading about Alternative Minimum Tax.

 

[A Potted Plant]

Dang, I had to go and be a musician....

I am incredibly lucky to go from a phone rep to this in 3 years and more than double my salary. I'm unbelievably stressed about this choice because I'm quitting somewhere I've been safe for almost 6 years and my wife is going to quit her job now that I make enough to displace her income completely.

 

[A Potted Plant]

Depends on what stage they are at (have they done any funding rounds?), and how open management is with their employees. I'd say it doesn't really matter though. This is clearly a big promotion and raise for you, so even if the company implodes, you'll still come out better than you went in.

Series B 30 to 35 mil in funding, CEO has had 4 of 6 startups go public. I had a sit down with the CEO and CTO this week and both were reassuring.

 

[roc]

I am incredibly lucky to go from a phone rep to this in 3 years and more than double my salary. I'm unbelievably stressed about this choice because I'm quitting somewhere I've been safe for almost 6 years and my wife is going to quit her job now that I make enough to displace her income completely.

Knowing nothing about your finances, why not have the wife keep working for a few years and put all that money in some kind of portfolio. Could make a big difference in 30 years. 100k invested should be over 1,000,000 in 30 years.

 

[A Potted Plant]

Knowing nothing about your finances, why not have the wife keep working for a few years and put all that money in some kind of portfolio. Could make a big difference in 30 years. 100k invested should be over 1,000,000 in 30 years.

I've never been very private so I'll lay it out and you can be honest with your judgement,

She has been the bread winner for our first 9 years together and the last 3 I've caught up and passed her earnings letting her go from Fulltime to Part time, if she is scared to leave she can go per diem.

She hates her job.

Also our kids are young and only young for so long, no amount of money can displace the time we get to spend with the kids before they get caught up in school and other stuff.



After we move she is going to reevaluate and maybe do telehealth nursing so she can be remote.

 

[roc]

I've never been very private so I'll lay it out and you can be honest with your judgement,

She has been the bread winner for our first 9 years together and the last 3 I've caught up and passed her earnings letting her go from Fulltime to Part time, if she is scared to leave she can go per diem.

She hates her job.

Also our kids are young and only young for so long, no amount of money can displace the time we get to spend with the kids before they get caught up in school and other stuff.



After we move she is going to reevaluate and maybe do telehealth nursing so she can be remote.

Good luck, you can never get time back.

 

[Bike N Gear]

Not to hijack the thread, but do any of you think it is a bad idea for a recent grad to work for a start up as a first job? My son has an offer with a tech start up that is much smaller than above. He's been interning with them for the past year but they are only 3 years old. Much less funding than above. Some of it has come from Carnegie Mellon which could provide more, and the balance has been from a company that has funded numerous startups until they have gone public.

 

[Norm]

Not to hijack the thread, but do any of you think it is a bad idea for a recent grad to work for a start up as a first job? My son has an offer with a tech start up that is much smaller than above. He's been interning with them for the past year but they are only 3 years old. Much less funding than above. Some of it has come from Carnegie Mellon which could provide more, and the balance has been from a company that has funded numerous startups until they have gone public.

I am in tech, have worked for several start-ups as well as very large orgs, and am currently involved in the hiring process where I work. If I were to get 2 resumes from people in the 25-30 year old age range, 1 had a few years experience working at a failed start-up and 1 had a few years working at the NYSE, I would look at the start-up kid first, 10 out of 10 times.

Tech start-ups are a great way to learn the way much of the tech world works. More than likely, he'll get his hands in more pots than he should, which will be chaotic & hectic and also a far better learning experience. Large orgs often give you a lot of experience in Frustration Management.

If I am hiring an executive director then I am not looking at resumes of people 25-30 years old.

 

[Magic]

Do you believe in the product?
Do you believe in the Owner?
Do you believe in the Management?

If yes - startup! You are going to bust your ass, and it will be so worth it when one of the "established" companies buy you
and those penny options fund your retirement, and a few other toys.
If it fails, you'll be able to quickly re-establish if you are getting multiple offers now.

good luck!!

This ^. I think it also depends a lot on the industry. Tech is probably more reliable when it comes to start ups. I had a few friends in tech startups that did well, and great on their resumes. My wife had an experience in the last year with a biomed startup that also offered some great incentives. After flying out to interview and reviewing their product, financials, etc. it looked like a company that came up with an idea during early COVID, got millions in funding, and were just paying themselves out of the investments for as long as they can as nothing was getting done towards the goal in months and they spent a good chunk making a flashy box for the product. I guess you can always ride it out for the money, but that won't help your career. Definitely need to ask some questions and make sure it isn't Theranos.

 

[clarkenstein]

If you’re looking for a third or fourth opinion, I’ve done the start up thing myself.

I’ve had some awesome success with it and experienced pretty much catastrophic failure.

I also understand how to interpret the financials pretty well (I write them). Cash burn is key. $35M sounds like a lot. For my last place that just blew up that’s a quarter.

Shoot me a PM and we can talk live, or ask away here.

 

[clarkenstein]

Not to hijack the thread, but do any of you think it is a bad idea for a recent grad to work for a start up as a first job? My son has an offer with a tech start up that is much smaller than above. He's been interning with them for the past year but they are only 3 years old. Much less funding than above. Some of it has come from Carnegie Mellon which could provide more, and the balance has been from a company that has funded numerous startups until they have gone public.

From my vantage point I think a mix of big company experience helps, but the big name doesn’t have to be the first experience you get.

I have gotten 100x actual hands on experience from the small shops I have been versus the bigger places with the big names. That said, the big places really show how a corporate machine can and should work. The small shops are where all that experience can come together in a melting pot from various companies and industries. Each size place has its merits and awful points.

I have hired some people with very little experience at a start up environment and it paid off for them. That said, having a big name or two on the resume when you are looking to jump to another opportunity does make it easier to move.

If equity is involved and there is a line of sight on an IPO, I say go for it. If there is no IPO in future at all and is going to stay private or get gobbled up by private equity, I would move on.

 

[Bike N Gear]

From my vantage point I think a mix of big company experience helps, but the big name doesn’t have to be the first experience you get.

I have gotten 100x actual hands on experience from the small shops I have been versus the bigger places with the big names. That said, the big places really show how a corporate machine can and should work. The small shops are where all that experience can come together in a melting pot from various companies and industries. Each size place has its merits and awful points.

I have hired some people with very little experience at a start up environment and it paid off for them. That said, having a big name or two on the resume when you are looking to jump to another opportunity does make it easier to move.

If equity is involved and there is a line of site on an IPO, I say go for it. If there is no IPO in future at all and is going to stay private or get gobbled up by private equity, I would move on.

He gets equity and there are hopes of an IPO. Our problem as parents we advise and he just agrees to shut us up. We're not too sure he has the confidence yet to ask the right questions for fear of losing the job. He's just happy that the salary before bonuses is enough for him to live comfortably on his own.

 

[A Potted Plant]

Not to hijack the thread, but do any of you think it is a bad idea for a recent grad to work for a start up as a first job? My son has an offer with a tech start up that is much smaller than above. He's been interning with them for the past year but they are only 3 years old. Much less funding than above. Some of it has come from Carnegie Mellon which could provide more, and the balance has been from a company that has funded numerous startups until they have gone public.

I'll give my experience and expectations

My current employer is 50k to 60k employees, and they've been around for 60 years. There is a lot of red tape and whenever I try to use a new skill set there is always resistance because it's new and there is no one to support it. I got the opportunity to work with people who have been at this for as long as I have been alive and tbh I am produce more and better quality. The environment I work in has been built up around them and when I meet someone with better talent who just started they leave within a year. Maybe all these places aren't like this but from what I'm told a lot are. There are data scientist that I support who don't know a lick of SQL and if I need access to a new python library I'm asking someone who still uses AOL for approval.

I got into the process with 2 FAANGs and they're true tech companies where the roles are well defined and I would legit be a cog in a giant machine. Money would be great but I believe I would be stunted in my growth and would have to continue learning on personal projects. I didn't get those jobs but the experience was great.

Now onto the startup, I'll be the 60th hire I was going for a senior role(yolo moon shot) but they offered me a JR role which is far better than I expected(didn't expect an offer). I can learn the tech I'm lacking and I come with domain knowledge (insurance), which I'll also be the only person in the company holding a license in. I was told if I need something ask for it and they'll deliver, if there is a better way to do something do it that way and keep improving. I have minimal technical exposure to what I'll be working on and for the first few months I'll be way over my head pulling 60 to 70 hour weeks so I can learn and execute at the same time. Around this time next year I will probably be kicking my self as to why I did things the way I did them today.

My plan is to stay here for 2 to 3 years and jump to try and reach 200k and so I have a shot at retiring.

If your son is in this type of work make sure he has a git and we'll documented projects. I always asked for feedback after interviewing and it was my git that got me Infront of them.

 

[JimN]

There is a lot of red tape

Maybe all these places aren't like this but from what I'm told a lot are

I have heard this as well. A friend of mine worked for a huge insurance company many years ago, and he told me it took six months to go from him saying "we need a new server to do X" to having the server in production. I've never worked for a large company, and I have no desire to. The startup that I'm at is now well over twice the size of any previous place I've worked.

I got into the process with 2 FAANGs and they're true tech companies where the roles are well defined and I would legit be a cog in a giant machine.

This would look great on your resume to some people, but you can get more experience and touch more things in a startup. We have a bunch of ex-Googlers here, and they are a lot happier.

He gets equity and there are hopes of an IPO. Our problem as parents we advise and he just agrees to shut us up. We're not too sure he has the confidence yet to ask the right questions for fear of losing the job. He's just happy that the salary before bonuses is enough for him to live comfortably on his own.

He's young and likes stocks (if i recall correctly), so working for a company where you have equity seems like a no-brainer. If he likes the company after working there for a year, I'd say go for it. He'll have plenty of real world experience, and the tech industry is great right now, so he can always leave and go someplace else. I had to hang drywall for my dad for a year or two after college because I had no experience and couldn't even get an interview anywhere.

 

[ebarker9]

I had to hang drywall for my dad for a year or two after college because I had no experience and couldn't even get an interview anywhere.

I work in a different engineering field and most days hanging drywall sounds pretty appealing. Not that I can/would accept the difference in pay and benefits.