Startup Resources’ Post

In my early days at the Finzly then Swapstech, I encountered diverse perspectives from candidates during walk-ins drives and interviews. One individual, upon entering, inquired about the absence of amenities like a lawn and swimming pool, typical of a stereotypical startup image (Google , Facebook and other big funded startups).  Conversely, another candidates expressed concerns about timely salary payment and job stability. I assured individuals that, in the worst-case scenario, I could help them secure positions in prominent MNCs. This assurance was grounded in my confidence in their skills and my network. The challenge with startups often lies in the polarized perceptions people hold. Some anticipate financial instability, while others envision luxurious facilities. Striking a balance and dispelling these extremes remains an ongoing effort. #startup is about doing more with less. #careeradvice

Not everyone should work at an early stage startup. If you want to trade your time for money and want the best possible return, go work at a large tech company. You'll get: Bright colleagues. Great benefits. Job stability. Street cred. Top pay. Working at an early stage company is risky. They're not guaranteed to survive. You'll be paid less cash than at the big companies. Your equity may never be worth anything. If you're doing the startup thing for the money, you're doing it for the wrong reason. Do it because you love to build. Because you learn by doing. Because you drive things forward. Because you thrive in ambiguous situations. Because maybe you'll start your own someday.

Joining a startup environment is not for everyone.   You must be a ‘doer’ as much as you are a ‘leader’.   This may change over time but if setting up a new office or joining after an early round of funding, structures and teams are typically not as established as in traditional financial services businesses.   You must be comfortable enough to ‘change the paper in the printer’ (although that seems a bit dated these days!).   If you really are, then you must be able to demonstrate that on your CV and at interview.   Not being able to demonstrate this is a major turnoff.

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"Can I use the funding to pay salaries? Myself and others?" Yes. We've financed everything from 6month runway to full market-rate salaries. With capital investment, we show founders a range of options (how much they can raise from investors) and the different impacts this has on their short/long-term earnings. 📍 Where required RecruitHub coordinates seed and growth capital through a network of angel investors, giving founders access to funding to start their ventures or accelerate growth. 📍 Founders can opt to launch with an initial salary whilst remaining the majority shareholders in their firms. Typically, our customers trade out 5%—20% for x amount of money to pay their personal outgoings and cover scaling costs from the start. On average, the amount traded out is 14%. Want to understand more about exploring the angel investor route? Drop me a message. #RecruitHub #Recruitment #Founder #AngelInvestor #Capital #Scaling #Startups

Last week, I sat down with Shahryar Barati, who after beginning his career in the corporate world at JPMorgan Chase & Co., had the unique opportunity to put on both a startup and VC investor hat at Capital Pilot, where he managed Autopilot VC, the UK’s first automated VC fund. He now runs Project Ventures which helps founders and VCs with fundraising and deal sourcing. We discussed hiring from a VC perspective, including the recruitment challenges faced by their portfolio companies and how VCs are increasingly hiring candidates with a background in startups/scaleups, as opposed to traditional corporates. Here is a clip from our conversation where we talk about the importance of hiring candidates who are as passionate as the founding team, and how that becomes increasingly challenging the more a company grows. To find out more about how we help VC-backed companies build their teams after raising funding, check out our embedded solution: https://lnkd.in/e2iDpJaQ Full version to be released soon! #VC #VChiring #hiringchallenges

Technical Cofounder: The struggle is real If you're an experienced developer, you're probably constantly bombarded with job offers from "headhunters" on LinkedIn, GitHub, and social media. If you also have some minor previous experience working in FAANG companies or have any field knowledge in Deep Tech, the demand is insane. The average job offer salary starts at £110,000 and can range up to £320,000 or even £520,000 per year. Another extreme demand for technical-minded people is on the YC Combinator forum. Almost every founder on YC is looking for a technical cofounder to help build their next unicorn idea for 50% of the equity. I started Offsetdata startup together with Samuel Austin and this January decided to go full-time into it. My salary is £0 and I don't see big changes or bonuses happening soon. However, this makes me focus even more on our idea, product-market fit, learn fast from mistakes, adapt new methods and do everything I can to make sure next week or month brings in revenue. The struggle is real. On one hand, I have all the job opportunities presented to me that could change my own life forever. On the other hand, I have the opportunity to make the world a more equitable place by making it easier for people to access and use complex technology. I'm up for the challenge and I'm excited for the future! I know that we're going to make a difference. But it's not going to be easy. It's going to take hard work, dedication, and a lot of sacrifice.

If you are trying to figure out early stage startup compensation, look into Pave. Pave is great because it helps you make a strong cash and equity offer to candidates based on real, benchmarked data across levels, location, and company stage. For example, maybe you want to be in the 50th percentile for cash and 90th percentile for equity for a specific type of role. In pave, you can set those parameters and the output will help you build a range that can be included in the job description. I have no affiliation with Pave but love the data driven methodologies for compensation. If you are not a user, how do you do this today?

The #𝟭 𝗺𝗶𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗸𝗲 non-tech founders make while hiring tech talent? Hiring for tools, not traits. You can train someone to use a tool. You can't train someone to have a trait. Traits are hard to come by. Tools are not. Traits include things such as: - Problem-solving - Resourcefulness - Adaptability - Resilience - Collaborative Tools include things such as: - Programming languages - Frameworks - Libraries Focus on hiring for traits and the tools will come along. That's how you build a world-class tech team. #teambuilding #startup #nontechfounders #hiringtips #buildteam #entrepreneurship #siliconvalley #cloudtrains

Head of Growth at a seed stage startup is one of the toughest tech jobs. - no product market fit - limited data and segments - huge resources constraints - no existing channels or loops - first-time founders (many times) - unrealistic expectations from investors - limited funds for continuing ed and coaching Things can go well. But the deck is stacked against you (especially right now). ---- ps if this content resonates, you might also like my bi-weekly podcast where I chat with growth leaders about challenges like these - media.deliveringvalue.co