It is close to physically impossible before series A at the majority of startups (exception for ones which achieve significant profitability early, but that's fairly rare in the Valley) and "it depends" after Series A. As always, sought after people whose skills provably make money and who negotiate better get better outcomes. (A little bird tells me than in certain disciplines mostly related to technical marketing proven people are getting contracting rates in the $X0,000 per month region. This strikes me as highly credible given what I know about those markets.)
Equity works in reverse: the more mature the company, the less you get. Ask the YC crowd for good numbers on that.
Thanks! After looking over the postings and realizing my W-2 from my Fortune 1000 IT job is more than any salary range listed, I think its time for me to sunset my 'work at a startup' dream, given my age(31), family, kids, mortgage, etc.
Bootstrapping my own looks like the only viable option for me. Now if I could only find an idea worth pursuing..
Man, it does good to know that I'm not he only one it that situation, being one year younger I can understand it pretty good. Bad luck it took me a while to realize that a start-up was what I really wanted, mostl thanks to Paul Grahams essays. Well, maybe it's all about timing, and there I'm utterly convinced that even when you are older the timing will be right one day. The trick is to realize it.
I have tons of ideas sitting around that I don't have time to execute on. I'll throw out two, have fun with them:
* taking advantage of modern technology ecosystem, replace the US Congress
* provide a replacement for the traditional movie theater experience that keeps all the good things, eliminates the bad things, and maybe adds in a few extra good things, especially taking advantage of the modern technology ecosystem
I have easily 20 more. But have time/body/money/energy constraints, and so have to prioritize. :)
Interesting. It seems there's never room for non-tech project managers in start-ups. You know those guys with a formal business background, MBAs etc? Well, I don't see opps for them in the start-up space. Am I missing something?
Nope, you're not missing anything. Startup teams are so small that everyone on the team has to be able to add value by creating something tangible. There's no room for middle-management.
And "non-technical" doesn't mean "middle management". Or, more to the point of the OP, there doesn't seem to be room for anyone who's not a programmer. That's a lot of roles, IMO. (Case in point, I have a CS degree and extensive business experience and have no desire to be a "programmer.")
Agree. Top-management takes care of business development while the tech team develops the product per se. Anything added to the middle would be considered fat to a lean agile body.
Tangible things are not the only way to add value to a start up. Popular start up methodologies, and I speak specifically of Lean Start Up and Customer Development, all have a strong focus on making sure you're building a minimum viable business, not just a minimum viable product.
However, the statistics are such that it's rare to have a start up team with the self-awareness to recognize this need connect with a non-technical person capable of satisfying it.
> The event is free, but since more programmers may want to attend than we have room for, we're asking would-be attendees to apply by submitting a resume. Founders of the companies that will be there will read them and decide who to invite.
Is this event really only for programmers? The language seems particularly exclusive.
As it is at least partially a recruiting event, the closer the invites go out to the event, the better they can match the invitees to the jobs they're trying to fill.
Does anyone have any insight to share on this?
What are the odds of getting a 6 figure salary at a startup?