Ask HN: Pros and cons of working at a startup in 2018?
I was the first engineer at a TechStars startup that did have a successful exit (I was there about 5 years before the exit). If there is something I want YC to know, it&#x27;s this:<p>You helped create the culture of founder empowerment. You have the power to evolve that narrative to those that sacrifice as early employees.<p>Tell the world that early employees deserve <i>a lot</i> more equity.<p>Tell the world that early employees contribute to the success of those companies and deserve to have that help their careers.<p>Because here&#x27;s what I see are the pros&#x2F;cons...<p>Pros:<p>* I was forced to learn with no one else to help me. Not sure I&#x27;d be as good of an engineer without that.<p>* I got exposure to a lot of things I wouldn&#x27;t normally be able to control, which propelled my career going forward.<p>* I built the seed to make connections with people in the startup community which I still leverage today for my own consulting business.<p>Cons:<p>* I was paid terribly, and this was 8 years ago, so it was even worse than now.<p>* Even with the exit, I basically made enough money to recoup the money I should have been making at a bigger company, so it&#x27;s net neutral.<p>* No one cares about that as a success for me. I&#x27;m surprised no one has brought this up. I was the 1st engineer for a company that had a successful exit for TechStars. <i>Zero</i> recruiters, companies, etc, have ever even asked about that company or my connection to it other than the fact they are reading it down on my resume (and when they do see it, they barely take note of it).<p>And for the record - I have no beef with the founders. But the culture around how to pay and credit early employees is institutional and was not their fault. They walked off with huge payouts and credit for their success, and I walked away with a catch-up check for missed EV and no one cares that I played an instrumental role in getting them where they are today.<p>But YC has the power to change that. I reiterate from above:  you have the power to tell the greater startup community through your words and your actions that startups should provide better equity to early employees and make it so that the success of a company is shared far greater than that of just the founders.