Ask HN: Should I join? Great Product, Well Funded, Mediocre Team | Hacker News Reader

Ask HN: Should I join? Great Product, Well Funded, Mediocre Team

5 pointsnswtd12 comments

Startup. New promising industry. Little competition. Best of best product. Startup lifestyle with decent hours. Well funded. Compensation less than market but negotiable.

Issue? Team. Mediocre at best. Experienced but with conflicting motivations. Fun. No class A players. May learn bad habits from them.

Feels like joining Research in Motion before Apple releases the iPhone. Not sure what to do.

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How did they get to a "Best of best product" with only a "Mediocre at best" team?

Either you're underestimating them or someone else built it or...?

"little competition"

>Not sure what to do.

On the contrary. You know exactly what to do. Read what you wrote. If you go to work there you will hate yourself a little bit every day.

Don't go. You're not a good fit. If you were, you wouldn't probably call them mediocre in the first place.

Mediocre Team build Best of best product in a New promising industry with Little competition and get well funded.

Wat?

If the team is mediocre, you'll hate yourself for taking the job as they squander their big opportunity and the company falls apart or stagnates.

Or they're building a product that doesn't need "class A" software engineers to build (of which there are many) and you'll be bored building a CRUD app or similar.

Or the team is fine and you'll be seen as the arrogant one, as silent resentment always shines through. You don't want to be "that guy".

Either way, there's no scenario in which it sounds like a good fit, from the description you've provided.

If you're genuinely one of the class A players you describe, there's plenty of other opportunities that will make you happier in the long run.

Well funded? Hell yeah, ride the bubble while it lasts. It is not you subsist on thin air.

Good product? Are you your own customer? Is it really "new" and "innovative" ? Learn as much as you can, then. You never know when a credible challenger appears. You better have all the experience to jump ship.

I say milk them for what they are worth but be careful not to get milked yourself.

It depends on what your motivations are. If the team is such a hold up for you that you have to ask the internet's opinion, then you already know this is not the right fit for you. Move on. There are other startups in hotter industries with a team you can enjoy working with.

I say take it, unless you are currently employed elsewhere. It can't be worse than unemployment, monetarily speaking. Plus, if you don't like the fit you can always leave (unless its a contract situation, etc).

If the position is better* that what you have now, then YES, otherwise, NO.

* Better being subjective based on the direction you want your career to go

No. Unless you consider you'd be able to transform the team, either by education, or by replacement.

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