bspear

Really like how this makes the interview simulate day-to-day work

Take a walk. Set a 30-minute timer to get something done.

touche you and i both

All I can think is... lucky Jack, and poor Parag

Went to school on the East coast, always dreamed of California life; was introduced to SF when a bunch of college friends got into tech; I followed suit

For me and many tech yuppies in SF, life revolves around work; Friday nights and Saturdays are for brunch and letting loose; Sundays are for the Sunday scaries, dreading the next day

SF was my first love: the water, the people, the energy, even the weather; over the years, it's become a shell of its old self. Crime, poop have all gone up. Government is completely incompetent. Never thought I would move out, but I have recently

Still a great place to start a career in tech because of the high-density of smart people. But also a weird place to be because some of your friends cash out big time with 7-8+ figures (https://topstartups.io/startup-salary-equity-database/); others toil away on the corporate ladder. It's a stark reminder of how people's lives can diverge depending on where they work

I try not to compare myself to others, but it's sort of impossible when you're living within a few miles of everyone

Amen, important to try out different therapists and see whose style is the best for you.

With that said, I think it also helps to diversify your portfolio of meaning. Sounds like you identify "summit" and "zenith" as the latest happenings in your career, but depending on the season of your life, there will always be different ups and downs.

Found this article useful: https://every.to/superorganizers/against-ikigai

Well this isn't creepy at all

Can see teams doing this as a fun icebreaker

Yup most things start as my personal use, and if I like it, maybe I'll share more broadly

Always thought of muting as the other party not hearing what I say, not that the app wasn't listening. It's running after all. Assume it's listening to everything

There's more: medical, crypto

Ya the researching companies thing takes so long esp. if you're going for startups. These sites saved me a lot of time: https://topstartups.io/, https://breakoutlist.com/

Also helps to take a few days off here and there to get it all done, even if you're working remote

Identity feels attacked.

https://every.to/napkin-math/, https://www.productlessons.xyz/, https://ofdollarsanddata.com/

Elephant in the room here is inflation. Entry-level (particularly white-collar) salaries have consistently gone up. These consulting firms are now competing with big tech and well-funded startups for talent, and falling short on equity.

Esp for engineering, new grads will regularly make $150K+ in base plus equity: https://topstartups.io/startup-salary-equity-database/

Were you profitable before you raised? Just curious if you wanted a bigger outcome or the smaller scale wasn't sustainable either

And what were the right things for you?

1. Validation from brands/people considered to know what they're doing

2. $$ to grow business

3. Founders sometimes gets to take money off the table (example: Clubhouse founders made millions in their seed round)

4. Easier to hire talent because your name gets out: techcrunch, crunchbase, topstartups.io

I've interviewed many FAANG employees as a startup hiring manager. They passed the technical bar at a higher rate, but many were not able to stomach the salary cut. Even fewer adjusted to the environment.

Found the individual, their attitude and work track record were better signals for fit than FAANG vs. startup dev.

This site might be useful for attracting the right candidates: https://topstartups.io/

Omen for bolt?

This is cool! how are you thinking about attracting users (besides HN)

Agreed! Greatest driver of inequality is not salary but equity. If more employees (including frontline) got some equity, even if it was a tiny %, could make a huge difference to their lives.

Particularly true at early-stage startups: https://topstartups.io/startup-salary-equity-database/

> So I built something people wanted. Consumers wanted it, doctors wanted it, I wanted it. Where did I go wrong?

They didn't want it enough. More specifically, the exchange of benefits for the cost was not clear enough

Extra credit at school means something tangible. Extra credit at work rarely does.

I think this message applies especially to people working in big tech and/or people working primarily on salary, not equity.

When you have equity in a startup though, each person doing more of their best work can actually make a massive difference to the trajectory of the business. And if you're working on a promising business, working better and faster is the highest ROI thing that can be done.

So it all depends.

> all salary data is available internally

That's pretty amazing, wonder if that applies to equity too. Most startups that are transparent about their metrics still don't share comp. If they did, I'm sure many people would be shocked at the variance: https://topstartups.io/startup-salary-equity-database/

Wave, if you're reading this, keep it up! Some of these principles will unfortunately break under the strain of a bigger company but stay nimble as long as you can

Great recruiting hook, but is it different from secondary sales that later-stage startups are already doing?

I suppose predictability in liquidity is useful, but wonder if price per share will be lower than preferred price. And could incentivize startup to delay their IPO even further?

Having the option for faster liquidity is a huge plus though, especially for people who have multiple millions and want to take some $ off the table: https://topstartups.io/startup-salary-equity-database/

Actually think founders need to look existential questions in the eye, and figure out reasonable answers to them. Yes the questions are better framed in an open-ended non-demeaning way, but asking them will save you from locking yourself up for years building something nobody wants.

Also, building a better version of X is usually less promising than building the first version of Y. Especially when X is pretty well-executed.

Most top startups I see are carving out their own niche: https://topstartups.io/

Startup salaries have gone up a lot in the last few years from the boom in funding. Experienced engineers with several years of experience are clearing $200K+ in base, and getting a solid equity cut too: https://topstartups.io/startup-salary-equity-database/

How did you rule out startups?

I'm interviewing with some startups right now, found this site helpful for anyone in the same boat: https://topstartups.io/

A lot of well-funded startups pay SWE $200K+ in base salary. You can find a bunch of examples here: https://topstartups.io/startup-salary-equity-database/?team=...