Ask HN: Can an early-stage startup hire really good engineers? | Hacker News Reader

Ask HN: Can an early-stage startup hire really good engineers?

8 points6nomads12 comments

Do you think it is possible to attract outstanding engineers to work with you at an early stage? (Meaning you can't pay them Silicon Valley salary).

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I can say as a person who tried to find a startup with good conditions but eventually accepted offer from one of the FANG companies.

Most of startups I contacted pay peanuts, and they don't compensate for this with equity. The equity is really stingy. I don't know why the think that their ideas are so valuable, but people they hire to implement them cost so little.

Don't behave like this.

You have to give them a ton of equity, like multiple percentage points (or even 10% if you havent raised money yet). Or you need to source them from another country, probably Eastern Europe or India. Good engineer capable of working at FAANG can make 300k easily.

I think building a remote team should be more helpful in this case? Do you have experience hiring remote developers? Any advice?

There is a niche market consisting of experienced Developers living in countries with low cost of living, that work remotely for compensation below US market and above their local market. I used to be one, prior to moving to the US. I also helped to hire and staff a foreign digital marketing agency with remote developers. I'd be happy to hop on a call and give you some advice and share my experiences if you'd like?

What kind of "outstanding engineers?"

Some startups need applications programmers, others need systems programmers or "data scientists", all of which are different markets.

Well, I'm talking more of senior backend and frontend engineers here. No need for DS yet.

I have a friend who is a seasoned engineer, and he has worked for a few startups. He lives in the middle of the country, so the cost of living is much less.

I think you can find outstanding engineers if your willing to offer them the option to work remotely.

Remote teams have other challenges, but if you have managed them, you will have no issues.

Absolutely. Try a remote team.

I'm thinking about it. Do you have experience hiring a remote team?

I'm a bit assumed to see the company running a "platform where tech startups hire the best remote engineers and designers. This is why I decided to create a product for remote community" doesn't have experience with remote teams.

you can get great young engineers who are very smart and work hard for early stage (ie crappy) wages. but you need at least one seasoned expensive grownup in the room and they will be extremely hard to attract even with competitive wages because of work hours and stability.

I think hiring young professionals is not the best option for a startup. They consume a lot of your time and energy and can't be as productive as middle or senior specialist.

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