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Danny Crichton writes at TechCrunch that startups in Silicon Valley run on an alchemy of ignorance and amnesia and that lying is a requisite and daily part of being a founder, the grease that keeps the startup flywheel running. Most startups fail. The vast, vast majority of startup employees will never exercise their options, let alone become millionaires while doing it. But founders have little choice as they sell their company to everyone, whether investors, employees, potential employees, or clients. "Founders have to tell the lie – that everything is fine, that a feature is going to launch even though the engineer for that feature hasn't been hired yet, that payroll will run even though the VC dollars are still nowhere on the horizon," writes Crichton. "For one of the most hyper-rational populations in the world, Silicon Valley runs off a myth about startup success, of the lowly founder conquering the world."
Crichton says that Silicon Valley needs a new transparent approach toward information, but also need to understand that startups are inherently risky – and accept the lies that come with them. Founders can't expect to hide the term sheets and their liquidation preferences from employees who ask and informed employees have a right to know what they are getting into. "We still need that Big Lie to function. We still need to dream about the possibility of success in order to realize it," concludes Crichton. "With greater transparency comes a responsibility on the part of everyone in the startup ecosystem to understand and empathize with the plight of founders trying to build their companies."
(Score: 4, Interesting) by mrsam on Sunday August 02 2015, @11:32AM
There's actually some truth to this snark.
I'm saying this after spending 15 years working in IT on Wall Street. A 60-hour work week is implicitly expected from you, if you work in IT on Wall Street, in order to get your coveted end-of-year bonus, which makes a significant portion of your total compensation package.
Except that if the company doesn't do well that year, of course through no fault of your own. There goes your bonus, after a year of working dawn to dusk.
And, of course, since you're salaried, you're getting paid for working 40 hours, and the rest you work for free.
I figured out this racket fairly early on, and switched to working as an hourly-paid contract consultant. Suddenly, once you get paid by the hour, you end up working your regular 40 days a week. Imagine that.
Over time Wall Street companies began to attempt to screw contract consultants just like their employees, by trying to do change their contract terms to a "professional day". Haa, haa, haa. This homey didn't want to play that game. Sadly, most consultants did fold like a cheap camera, because they're deathly afraid of losing their gigs; so this is now also pretty common. But I still refused to work for free, and I really pissed off several pimps who thought that they could lie to me, after I was perfectly honest, and straight to them up front. They still believed that all they had to do was get me an offer, and I couldn't possibly refuse it, once it's dangled in front of me. I told each one of them that I expect to work and be paid for an eight hour day, and paid the same rate for each hour after, before they even tried to get me an interview. Still they were in a complete shock after I immediately turned down an offer for the rate I was asking, but for a "professional day" paying ten times my rate.
I don't work on Wall Street, any more. I wouldn't have any automatic objections to returning to the scene, but only on my terms.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday August 02 2015, @05:48PM
"40 days a week"
So you write 4 bots to work five days a week?