Ask HN: Early Founders – Do you buy new computers for all of your employees?

11 points by philipdlang 12 years ago | 14 comments

jlengrand 12 years ago |

As a founder/cofounder, I wouldn't mind using my personal computer to save some investment early on.

As an employee, I would see that as a really bad sign; and would probably not feel secure about getting paid every month. If you are not able to buy a new laptop for your new employee, is it really needed to get a new employee at all?

meerita 12 years ago |

In my opinion, after being participant in 6 startups in my career I see the lack of good computers as a bad sign of the company. Right now, I'm doing a good product with a 2009 Mac. I can code, I can design, but the timings go up as well the frustration when the machine runs slow in some processes or it hangout itself. To resume: it sucks balls.

I don't think companies need all employees under 6-core Mac Pros with 4K monitors, but having good computers also makes the job easier and pleasant.

The day I start my own company I will impose this rule for development/design team:

1. Fatest Macbook Pro Retina: mobility and power. 2. 16Gb mem or higher: so mem is the least of the problems. 3. Double monitor: work better from start, no need to watch 1 screen. 4. Mechanical keyboard: confort, speed and healty. 5. All machines under LAN, WiFi is slow imho.

philipdlang 12 years ago |

This is specifically for early-stage founders. If you haven't raised much yet, how do you deal with new employees coming in? Do you buy them new laptops? Buy refurbished macs?

dhoulb 12 years ago |

Good question! I'm not quite there yet, but I've got it in mind to buy all new staff members personal laptops.

A lot to think about with that though: Obviously they need to be insured against loss, theft and damage. We'd probably need some spare laptops around in case anyone is temporarily without one for any reason.

Also, I guess some 'give it back please' policy for anyone who's terminated within the first few months? And you'd probably need to commit to replacing them every year or two, or we'd be compromising productivity. It'd take a while to hammer out all these kinks. Interested to know what others do!

danaseverson 12 years ago |

If you're hiring employees, hopefully that means that you either have revenue or investment $. If so, I'd say yes. In my experience, most employees are excited to be using a new machine, which boosts morale.

mattwritescode 12 years ago |

Personally I would not mind using my own machine. I think your choice of computer is a personal thing. Some like smaller more portable other like the bigger (as we all know bigger is better).

I would prefer being given $500 and being told get yourself the equipment you need be it a chair, desk, keyboard, mouse. Whet ever is going to make your life the easiest.

There is no point in having a lovely laptop if you get back troubles because your desk and chair are not up to the job.

gregcohn 12 years ago |

This is an easy question to answer in the form of "do it the right way if you can afford to; do what you have to if not."

As other responders have pointed out, there are various reasons it's better for the company to provide company-owned boxes, but the stakes aren't very high in the very early days. Just make sure people aren't doing stupid stuff like not having screenlocks.

redguava 12 years ago |

If they are working in your office and they don't have their own laptop, then yes.

Otherwise, it's up to you. It's a nice thing to do, but not necessary.

rpedela 12 years ago |

I have contractors only and have them use their own computers. I have used company money for things like surge protectors in the office or a tablet for testing.

thelogos 12 years ago |

Seems kind of wasteful if you're not loaded with funds. If I were an employee, I wouldn't mind using my own computer. Prefer it actually.

nostrademons 12 years ago | |

You're opening yourself up to some fairly significant risks. If an employee is using a computer for personal stuff, chances are that it's been pwned by a hacker or botnet, or if it hasn't already been, it could easily be. If they're using that personal machine for your development, that pwned computer means that all your source code, production deployment, possibly user data, etc. is available for the taking. A hot startup is a significantly more attractive target than an individual employee.

Now, the calculus is likely a bit different when you're just a few guys noodling around with an idea than when you have actual users or worse, customers. But if I had enough money coming into my company to fund employees, one of my first priorities would be to get them corp laptops & desktops and request that they please try to limit personal usage of those machines, particularly usage outside of the corporate firewalls. After the hundred grand or so for an employee's salary, getting them nice hardware is peanuts. And if you're taking customers' credit card information or other personal identification, you have a responsibility to them not to open that information up to any hacker who can pwn a laptop.

philipdlang 12 years ago | |

I somewhat agree here, but when a company is small it could be awkward to have a policy where you buy computers for some and not for others, right?

fit2rule 12 years ago |

Yes. Always. Computers are the core tool of the job, and expecting professionals to provide their own tools is like saying "hey guy, build your own business, but then give it to me when you're done".

Plus, the hassles are reduced when we (the company) own the equipment - we can set policies for how these machines are to be used, which are productive policies. We have far more control over time being wasted in the toolings phase of things - all our machines are configured the same way, so anyone can sit anywhere on these laptops, and still be functionally productive.

That said, we've had some real success with providing VM's to be used by our staff - and this means we can reduce the power-requirements on the desktop, immensely. There's something very satisfying in watching 8 people work on the same Linux Server, albeit remotely, each with their own VM ..

informatimago 12 years ago | |

And when you do that, how do you justify having those people in the office?