|
Does anyone have experience in hardware startups, and/or any advice on how to gauge the health of a startup? I feel like things are going well from most of the signals up high, like meetings with higher ups at potential customers and our first product in market/production this year. Occasionally I get spooked by someone with a lot of mindshare leaving, but that has slowed down and they're managing to back-fill the positions that were vacant. I'm also nervous that, while I believe very strongly that the tech we develop can succeed, the nature of working with hardware means we'll just be pushed out by one of the companies in our area who have infinite money to throw at an R&D fab. I'm trying to decide if I want to leave my current role, which I really enjoy aside from being under compensated.
|
#
¿
May 9, 2022 16:04
|
|
|
|
| # ¿ Apr 29, 2024 14:17 |
|
|
I turned down an offer at ~30% more total comp than I currently make because I couldn't see myself enjoying the work they wanted me to do. I am talking with another company this next week or two that reached out shortly after I accepted my current role, and the base comp that was quoted back then was ~20% higher than my current rate. Reviews are supposed to be happening soon, so I'm kinda waiting to see what I can get out of that. If they don't bump me up a pay grade I'm having a hard time justifying the paycut from staying where I am. My ISOs have already begun to vest, so if they hit it big I'll still get something out of it. man in the eyeball hat fucked around with this message at 16:19 on May 9, 2022 |
|
#
¿
May 9, 2022 16:15
|
|
|
To clarify, because I think my original post was a bit unclear: I'm at a hardware startup, and I'm curious about how to gauge its health. I'm considering jumping ship to another startup in the area (which is also a hardware-ish startup, but I know what questions I want to ask them). In both places, I would be working on research tools for other non-software-engineer people on the team to use.DuckConference posted:so this doesn't apply if the hardware is B2B or scientific instruments or whatever, or if you're in some super strongly held niche, but for consumer stuff pre-pandemic the trend is that everyone except apple has negative margins or maybe grocery store margins at best, and in theory will make it back with some kind of subscription. TVs, laptops, video game consoles, and a number of others have been there for a while, but probably more stuff is headed that way. post-pandemic things have gotten harder because all of you components are now going EOL or having 1 year lead times or other crazy chip shortage stuff. Current place makes hardware for consumer devices, so the fact that it's going to actually be available in some devices this year seems like a very good sign. I know of a large company employs some people who work on stuff similar to what we do, but we also have an engagement with them, so presumably we're doing something right. Corla Plankun posted:imo the most important things about a startup are how the team feels (try to suss it out in interviews and ask for another interview with someone with your position if you feel unsure) and whether the product is worthwhile. Startups are a lot more challenging work, which can be great if the result feels good and the teamwork gives you energy. But it can be a horrible, terrible slog if your coworkers drain you and the product is a stupid SaaS to help small business tiktokers drive engagement on pinstagram with deep learning or whatever-the-gently caress CMYK BLYAT! posted:i mean if the product is actually useful and you have some interest the space (you probably shouldnt work with the above if you hate tiktok and people on it with a passion) small business stuff can be quite rewarding, since the person using and buying the product are often the same. working on ENTERPRISE stuff can be a slog since so much effort goes into poo poo that looks good in the sales demo to the bigwig with purchasing authority, while leaving the product largely a pile of crap because "improved UX" or "stops crashing constantly" arent things you can demo, so work on them languishes Neither job is TikTok for Dogs or anything like that. The job I turned down was a SaaS platform that I didn't find interesting, despite them managing the last few years quite well. I know what type of work I find engaging, but the quality of the team is a hard one for me to nail down. My current team is alright, not super social or talkative but they're all very competent and friendly, which is pretty much what I want. I'm concerned the new position might be a poor culture fit, judging by how the "team" page is bragging about how many PhDs they have on staff, mostly from the same research group, and the minimal non-PhD staff is relegated to the very bottom like an afterthought. My experience with some of these people, whom I worked on stuff similar to them in grad school, is that they work themselves to death. I will have a better idea of culture after visiting in the next week or so.
|
|
#
¿
May 10, 2022 21:12
|
|
|
My meeting with a potential new job went well last week, ended with them asking me if I wanted to do a full interview. The work sounds good, and I feel like I know what I want to ask if I do a full interview to make sure it's not toxic. My only issue now is navigating the interview and negotiation with my current job. I would like to: 1. Get a salary estimate from the new place 2. Give my current job a chance to counter offer before I commit to leaving, assuming the new place does give me an offer 3. Not burn bridges at my current job or potential next job I see pt 3 as important because I could conceivably encounter coworkers from either place again in the future, since it's relatively specific work, or I might want to move down the line. Pt 1 is so I don't waste new job's time with an interview I have no interest in taking. Pt 2 is important because really, I'd be happy to remain where I am if they bumped my pay. If I negotiate a raise where I am and turn down a new offer, is that a dick move? I have a number that would be a no-go for any interview at all (minimum raise over current rate), and I have thoughts on what it would take to get me to stay at my current job.
|
|
#
¿
May 16, 2022 19:27
|
|
|
Thanks, that's helpful to hear. I'm going to spend some time thinking about it but at the least taking the full interview and seeing the offer shouldn't be a problem. e- for a bit of context, i only moved to my current job after i really got fed up with my first job post-grad school. i didnt quit violently, but i was absolutely interviewing to get the gently caress out and i had no interest in staying. being more at ease in my current job is making this more muddled man in the eyeball hat fucked around with this message at 19:58 on May 16, 2022 |
|
#
¿
May 16, 2022 19:56
|
|
|
This is all helpful to keep in mind, and I appreciate someone telling me these things bluntly. I am not interested in job hopping endlessly every ~2 years, but that's about how long I've been at my current place and last place. Does anyone have advice on how they identify a place to be worth settling at for a while?
|
|
#
¿
May 16, 2022 20:38
|
|
|
No Wave posted:"tell me about a time you gave up short-term efficiency for long-term gain". "I took this interview"
|
|
#
¿
Jun 8, 2022 18:25
|
|
|
Xarn posted:Sometimes I wonder where Atlassian customers come from, because the only place I've worked at that used their products was my very first job, at a local C-tier outsourcer. Never ran into them since (not that I am complaining). i have used it at a startup that didn't know any better and thinks its a hardware company
|
|
#
¿
Jul 28, 2022 21:22
|
|
|
my job recently closed series b and we got diluted to hell. i recently gave notice and one of the things i told my boss was they need to tell people what is going on w/r/t equity. i only even know about the dilution because i've exercised my shares already and got notice when they increased the number of shares. it kinda feels like they were trying to hide this fact from the rest of the employees because they have never, not once, said anything about the number of shares/dilution/implications of the new fund raising round on our shares. ostensibly they are going to tell people they're re-upping their stock options according to my boss, but they still haven't said a loving thing since i brought it up.
|
|
#
¿
Oct 25, 2022 20:05
|
|
|
CarForumPoster posted:That is how fundraising works...they create new shares. Dilution is a fact of life at Series B if you were awarded a fixed number of shares. Employees get a chunk of the employee option pool. I know how dilution works, but the company has been completely radio silent about any of the financial details other than waving around the number they raised. I expected my shares to shrink in the hopes of an increased sell price down the line, but I also expected to be notified by someone at the company how the fundraising round worked out and how much they shrank. In the future I'll just ask instead of assuming anyone in leadership will communicate a detail other than "we now have $X more to spend" I'll check the book out, I largely enjoyed my time at the company. I would be interested in joining another one early on, I learned a lot and got to work on very neat problems. I exercised early because the strike price is extremely cheap and my financial advisor recommended it to avoid the potential of AMT issues down the line.
|
|
#
¿
Oct 25, 2022 23:55
|
|
|
nudgenudgetilt posted:the phrase you're looking for is "may I see the cap table?" they told me no when I asked, is that usually something that employees can access?
|
|
#
¿
Oct 26, 2022 00:31
|
|
|
prisoner of waffles posted:a couple of years doing that kind of work in a few places left me feeling like a lot of defense spending is, in effect, welfare/make-work for STEM degree-havers or can feel like it. This is a sentiment that I have found in other people who worked in or near defense. i interned at a national lab in college and had this realization. then one of my friends used to work at Boeing Defense and he described it as a jobs program for conservative engineers. I don't know what the pay is like for full time staff, but coupled with the security clearance process I don't think they could pay me enough to get me to go back.
|
|
#
¿
Nov 3, 2022 17:54
|
|
|
|
| # ¿ Apr 29, 2024 14:17 |
|
|
IMO its fair game to ask in one of the interviews. i asked a recruiter how they found me once, mostly because I wanted to know if a conference talk actually pointed someone to me (it did not, they just searched linkedin)
|
|
#
¿
Dec 15, 2022 21:01
|
|