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Comment by dvfjsdhgfv | Hacker News Reader

I'm not sure if it's sarcasm or not, but asking people to work on weekends means crossing the line, whether it's expressed in a direct or indirect way.

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What if during the interviewing process they're very clear that they are a startup that isn't a normal job and the trade off is equity and a great cheque in 2-5 years?

Very clear would be "maybe a great cheque in 2-5yrs but it could be we'll fail and you'll lose your job and get nothing", wouldn't it?

Apparently in USA ~50% survive year 5 of businesses. I see similar numbers for UK.

eg https://www.researchgate.net/post/Most_Start-up_Businesses_F... for USA

Yes! And one way (not the only way) to increase your chances of survival is by working harder than normal to get to a product/revenue point where you can make it. Again, all I'm asking is if the startup is very clear about expectations going into the role is that ok? We have very low unemployment right now so it's not like skilled technology workers don't have a lot of choices. Is there any way to ethically create a startup in today's age and expect people will work more than government mandated hours?

Seems like access to capital is the primary reason for failure, so you working harder might make no difference.

>Again, all I'm asking is if the startup is very clear about expectations going into the role is that ok? //

Absolutely! The truth will set you free.

Some countries have laws for that tho, which were implemented precisely so that all business are not allowed to think themselves as so "special" that they can set any rules whatsoever, they've done it in the past and it was ugly. If I make a mining startup can I say it's not a normal job, this you go back home once a week, work 14hrs day and can bring your child as a mini-employee?

I'd be curious as to what work laws in UK says.

It depends: if they tried to pull this off in Europe, they would face trouble as it's illegal to exploit people whether they agree to it or not.

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