Ask HN: How does one optimize oneself for employment at a startup?

4 points by Laaw 10 years ago | 2 comments

I've been listening to the "How to Start a Startup" podcast, mostly out of idle curiosity, and I've just finished the second episode, "Team and Execution".

In it, Sam Altman talks about who the right people are and who the wrong people are to be one of a startup's first hires, and as he describes the right people, I realize that I don't currently fall into the category of the right people. My coworkers wouldn't call me the "best in the world at what I do", although what I do is mostly disagree with them on how to get things done.

I am aware of plenty of material out there that explains how to be a good/not terrible startup founder, but what can I do/learn/change to become a better startup employee? I want to work in this space, but I have a very strong new fear of being the "bad employee" who tanks someone else's incredible idea.

liquidcool 10 years ago |

It sounds like a two part problem: getting the job, and doing well at the job, and they are orthogonal.

There was an article about getting hired by a YC startup not too long ago, and the key takeaways were:

1. be focused on building products, not mastering technology, or at least say that you are. They don't want to hear about your desire to be awesome at <machine learning|scalability|etc.>

2. stay away from enterprise software companies. Doesn't matter if you're solving similar (hard) problems.

3. stay away from enterprise tech, like C# and Java, unless you're going after a specific company that uses those.

These are irrational biases, but pretty entrenched. My advice is to just get things done. Record what, how, and the material impact on your LinkedIn profile, at least quarterly. Network at start-upy events. They'll come to you eventually.

brudgers 10 years ago |

I'm curious about the reasons for optimizing as a startup employee.