I don't recommend books too often in these pages, and this book hasn't even been released yet, but this article about and excerpted from this book is well worth reading. Even if all you want is a bit of amusing fun you'll enjoy this.
A fellow named Dan Lyons, who has been a writer on the hit HBO comedy show "Silicon Valley", is about to publish a book mostly about his experiences in the startup world when he worked at HubSpot.
Here is the story on Fortune.com:
http://fortune.com/disrupted-excerpt-hubspot-startup-dan-lyons/
Here is a snippet from that piece:
Dogs roam HubSpot’s hallways, because like the kindergarten decor, dogs have become de rigueur for tech startups. At noon, Zack tells me, a group of bros meets in the lobby on the second floor to do push-ups together. Upstairs there is a place where you can drop off your dry cleaning. Sometimes they bring in massage therapists. On the second floor there are shower rooms, which are intended for bike commuters and people who jog at lunchtime, but also have been used as sex cabins when the Friday happy hour gets out of hand.
I have a bit of experience in the world of startups and I've seen some of what Dan describes. Also I feel validated in the analysis I made of one startup that recruited me recently.
This nameless company saw a few areas of expertise in my background that fill their needs very well in their product area. So the CPO requested a phone interview and we talked quite a few times via email and phone. The first flag for me was when he stated they don't allow titles at their little startup company, said the Chief Product Officer before he corrected himself by naming the C-Level folks with titles. He went on to assure me they are very well funded with at least 2 years runway, before he mentioned how little room they have for the cost of salaries and related they would be at the very bottom of the pay scale for someone with my experience. The list went on and on, including a lack of an equity plan, as I grew certain I was speaking to more of a confidence man than a CPO I would respect and learn from.
I've seen company founders dangle the carrot of eventual payout and am not particularly enticed by such things, and never was, but please ... offer me something. I told this CPO to reach out to me when they are better established and don't expect to hear from him again.
The reasons to join a startup or to invest in one should be quite simple: the quality of their offering and the quality of the team. Startups typically suffer from cash-flow problems regularly so don't expect a great salary but equity is a must. Titles are cheap and often a key requisite for working at a startup is the need to wear many hats so Director or VP titles should be easy to get in to for folks with good training and experience. You can do more, learn more, and expand your wings more than at well-established companies so putting in some time at a startup can be very good for careers. However, too many young people are being taken advantage of, to put it harshly, by founders looking to build more of a pyramid scheme than a company.
Choose wisely.
Happy Reading,
J.W. Gant
PS Season 3 of "Silicon Valley" starts in April.
I have a bit of experience in the world of startups and I've seen some of what Dan describes. Also I feel validated in the analysis I made of one startup that recruited me recently.
This nameless company saw a few areas of expertise in my background that fill their needs very well in their product area. So the CPO requested a phone interview and we talked quite a few times via email and phone. The first flag for me was when he stated they don't allow titles at their little startup company, said the Chief Product Officer before he corrected himself by naming the C-Level folks with titles. He went on to assure me they are very well funded with at least 2 years runway, before he mentioned how little room they have for the cost of salaries and related they would be at the very bottom of the pay scale for someone with my experience. The list went on and on, including a lack of an equity plan, as I grew certain I was speaking to more of a confidence man than a CPO I would respect and learn from.
I've seen company founders dangle the carrot of eventual payout and am not particularly enticed by such things, and never was, but please ... offer me something. I told this CPO to reach out to me when they are better established and don't expect to hear from him again.
The reasons to join a startup or to invest in one should be quite simple: the quality of their offering and the quality of the team. Startups typically suffer from cash-flow problems regularly so don't expect a great salary but equity is a must. Titles are cheap and often a key requisite for working at a startup is the need to wear many hats so Director or VP titles should be easy to get in to for folks with good training and experience. You can do more, learn more, and expand your wings more than at well-established companies so putting in some time at a startup can be very good for careers. However, too many young people are being taken advantage of, to put it harshly, by founders looking to build more of a pyramid scheme than a company.
Choose wisely.
Happy Reading,
J.W. Gant
PS Season 3 of "Silicon Valley" starts in April.
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