For sure there are other things to worry about... but it's not a label, it's a first impression.

We didn't originally spend a lot of time thinking about our jobs pages at http://www.thinkful.com/ until candidates started asking about them. Then we realized the number of people who were turned off from talking to us because we explained the company so poorly.

There's still a lot of work to do, but that's always the case!

I don't think it's the name so much as the attitude that matters. I've definitely seen startup founders that expected a longer term commitment from employees than they did from themselves. The founders wanted employees to believe 100% that they would be at the company for years to come, even though the founders fully expected to guide the company from inception to acquisition as quickly as possible and then split. I think the reality is that startup industry people, regardless of whether they're in a founding or hired role, are in it to create businesses and learn how to do so. Once those opportunities evaporate, they're not going to see value in sticking around to turn the gears. Startups that try to hire for long-haulers are bringing in the asylum-seekers, not the risk-takers.

Full disclosure: I worked with the author for six months.

Ha - well said. Employee churnover in startupland is hilarious. This is not always obvious to those diving into this world for the first time.