Ask HN: Salary for Non-Technical Employee #1?

8 points by Coax 16 years ago | 4 comments

We have a small (5-6 person) NYC startup. Thus far, all hires have been developers, but we're getting ready to make our first non-technical hire, a social media manager.

I get the impression that there is a glut of non-technical "business" people trying to get hired by startups. Therefore, I assume we can pay this person substantially less than we'd pay an entry-level developer. We'll still give him/her the same amount of options that we give all technical folks we've hired.

Is that correct? How much should an entry-level social media manager make in NYC?

brk 16 years ago |

Therefore, I assume we can pay this person substantially less than we'd pay an entry-level developer.

You'll end up having to pay any decent employee in any position something near a market-rate salary.

Not sure about the "glut" of people, but also not sure that is relevant. You are looking for a quality person who can work independently, adapt to the environment of the company, maintain some long-term loyalty to the company, and do the work of 2 people. There are rarely a "glut" of those types of people, and they rarely work for a substantially reduced pay.

im_asl 16 years ago |

I believe the glut you might be referring to would be the high proportion of people that fancy themselves internet savants because they use twitter and facebook. Finding someone who knows how to leverage modern platforms and get quantifiable results will probably be harder then you imagine.

As for pay, I'm sure anyone who has proven themselves capable will demand a salary that is representative of their value.

retube 16 years ago |

I'm not from NYC, and have no idea what these kinds of rates are. However, given the goals that you would like this person to achieve, what will that be worth to you? I know it's hard to quantify for people not in sales roles, but how much do you think this role will contribute to your bottom line? What you pay them will depend on whether this is 50k or 500k.

starkfist 16 years ago |

There are hundreds of people in NYC who will do this for free so you should pay a maximum of $40,000.