Why you should Never work for a startup

Continuing the myth that startups should be dynamic, energetic places where everyone happily works 12 hours a day using unproven, bleeding edge technology to build exciting solutions to do important things.

Nonsense. Some startups are like that, sure, but they don't have to be. You can be successful working 8 hours a day, 3 days a week, using boring old technology to do wholly unimportant things if you've identified a real problem and built a real solution to it. That's what makes a successful business - making something people will pay for. The only thing you need to be in a startup is the willingness to take a risk working in a company that's more likely to fail than one that's already gone through the pain of finding customers and revenue. Every company was a startup once.

Being in a startup isn't about your life, your energy, your focus, where your capital comes from, or your choice of tools - startups are about starting a business to sell something to people. End of story. That's it. The entire 'lifestyle' side of things is a choice. Some people choose to work long hours using unproven tech. Some people don't. Neither option is right for all.

Furthermore, I'm beginning to doubt the idea that longer hours equate to better chances of success. On paper it makes sense - you can do more if you're working for longer - but the reality is that your productivity falls away after a certain amount of time, to the point where it's actually negatively impacts what you're doing (especially in coding). Having people who can go home at the end of a normal day, switch off, and come in again the following day to carry on ticking things off the to-do list day after day after day getting things done is what gets products out the door. Not long hours or being anti-luddite.

"Why these posts should Never appear on HN"

Isn't the correct title:

>You should never work for a startup, if...

?