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Interview at a startup
Jimmy King
Registered User regular
Registered User regular
Ok, a couple related questions here.
1) It looks like I'll have an interview at a startup next week. And by startup, I mean JUST getting going. No company website even. Now I've worked for a small, young company. I interviewed for my current job the week the company had its IPO. I work in a rough industry where I've seen many companies come and go. Beyond standard interview stuff, what questions should I be asking to make sure I'm not about to leave a stable-ish (I don't see it lasting much more than another year or so) job for a company that's likely to run out of money and leave me jobless in 6 months? Obviously things like where they are getting their funding, overall business strategy, if there are any current customers lined up, etc.
2) My wife and I are trying to have a kid. I don't know what insurance coverage these guys have. It's also contract to hire an the contracting firm has no benefits for the first 3 months. I will need health insurance and to be sure that if the baby thing happens, we will be covered. I don't even know where to start with that, what to look for, anything. I've always just had insurance provided by my employer.
1) It looks like I'll have an interview at a startup next week. And by startup, I mean JUST getting going. No company website even. Now I've worked for a small, young company. I interviewed for my current job the week the company had its IPO. I work in a rough industry where I've seen many companies come and go. Beyond standard interview stuff, what questions should I be asking to make sure I'm not about to leave a stable-ish (I don't see it lasting much more than another year or so) job for a company that's likely to run out of money and leave me jobless in 6 months? Obviously things like where they are getting their funding, overall business strategy, if there are any current customers lined up, etc.
2) My wife and I are trying to have a kid. I don't know what insurance coverage these guys have. It's also contract to hire an the contracting firm has no benefits for the first 3 months. I will need health insurance and to be sure that if the baby thing happens, we will be covered. I don't even know where to start with that, what to look for, anything. I've always just had insurance provided by my employer.
Jimmy King on
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If you have that luxury, always take it.
As I understand it there's a six month waiting period for health insurance to cover pregnancy. Meaning, if you pregnant up to six months after coverage begins, nothing relating to the pregnancy will be covered.
Something to look into.
Would there be any non-compete issues with this new place?
The kid thing makes it very difficult, too. We have been trying seriously for well over a year now and taking a "if it happens, great!" attitude for awhile before that. We've been seeing doctors, etc. and the doctors say everything is fine, but no kids are popping out here. It doesn't seem super likely that a kid would come now, but at the same time with as much effort and testing and time as this is taking, I don't really want to just drop the kid idea for 6 months or more.
No issues with non-compete agreements. Aside from doing software dev, it's totally different, doing dev in a different industry. I'm also in a right to work state.
So...start studying up on what you want to do next and apply at new places when this falls through or move to a location that doesnt suck sweaty llama balls?
You can have a kid when you arent looking at possible unemployment. You need to get set right on the world and part of that is not beholden to a single job. If you can't afford to lose any job then you're already in big trouble - either because your skillsets have atrophied or you were being paid too much.
Learn more skills or shed debt/lifestyle until you get back to where you want to be.
I wasn't even really intending to start looking now as I am finishing up an internship (I've been employed in the field full time for a long time, but returned to school, etc.) but I saw this job come up from a recruiter who has been good to work with in the past and is working with the languages that I want to focus on and build my skills in so I sent my resume over anyway and let her know that I will not be able to actually change positions for a couple of months. Everything else is moving along faster than I expected though, so I'm just trying to get everything in order so that I can do what's going to turn out best in the end. I'm ok with it whether that's taking the new job if offered, telling them the job just isn't right for me, or telling them that the job sounds great but I'm just not able to make the switch yet like I had hoped to be able to do. I'm just trying to dig up all the info I need to make that call and there's a wealth of experience and knowledge of just about everything on this forum.
Poor or no marketing plan is often a sign of a shitty startup that's going to fold quickly.
Expect lots of options, so find out the total number of shares issued. Do not expect good health benefits.
http://steamcommunity.com/profiles/76561198006524737
I'm trying to do some research into getting my own health insurance separately from whatever would be provided by benefits from any job. This seems pretty important for any job change right now since given our current baby making situation there really is no "good" time to change jobs unless we are willing to just give up for a couple of years and we're getting old enough that we really don't want to do that.
I'm still in awe of the fact that you're dead set on a pregnancy during this possible transition. Why?
It seems to me you have the potential to earn more than you do at your current job. Do you think you could save them? Pitch that. Think you could make money for the company? Pitch that. Use that as a reason to get you more money and help secure the stability of the company. Hell you could be the CIO/CFO/CEO when this guy retires if you play your cards right, especially if the business stays.
As a rule of thumb, I avoid startups like the fucking plague they usually are. If they don't have capital or wealthy investors, run. Or a solid business plan.
Honestly you should ask to see everything, what they do, what they plan, who is investing, what they've got on the line, what kind of company they are, who everyone is. All of that before you even consider an offer or 2nd interview.
With everything we're currently going through with the pregnancy situation I'm not yet ready to just give it up for 3-6 months (or more) while looking for a new job, then possibly another 3-6 months depending on what their actual insurance benefits are and delay everything for possibly another year or more without getting all of my options lined up and going over the details. I'm not absolutely doing anything right now, I'm getting information so that I know what my options and the costs involved with those options are, and asking here to make sure I don't overlook anything.
A large percentage of the jobs out here are w-2 contracts and contract to hire and frequently have no benefits, including insurance, for the first 1-3 months. I would need personal health insurance for that regardless of any hopes of pregnancy.
Like I said, right now I am just getting information on what the options and their costs are and what questions I need to be asking and options I should be looking at that I may not be aware of. I'm really not sure what the problem with that is. What's the best option for one person may not be the best for another. Perhaps I've got the financial means to go with a less ideal financially but less hassle/faster results option than someone else does? I haven't decided anything one way or the other on any of this and am just asking for information.
Yeah, this is the sort of stuff I'm looking for as far as what to be asking them. I definitely want to know where they're getting their money, how much money they have, etc. I don't know if I would know a solid business plan if it bit me in the ass, which may be a good reason for me to avoid this.
I did some digging today and did find one thing that makes me a little nervous. It appears that the vc funding may be coming from a small vc group that the CEO of this company is also CEO of. I'd be more comfortable if someone other than the CEO's VC group was willing to invest in this.
In the end, though, it never hurts to interview. If nothing else it's good practice. I'm terrible at interviews.
Always pays to do your research on companies, as you just found out. I mean, if you can get everything you want in the interview with a contract and all, and you know for a fact that the place you work at is going to close shop... then I'd probably say go for it. I'm not to sold on either option, but my gut is telling me that this is a bad thing when the CEO is CEO of another company that's funding the current business.
How successful is the other one?
As to my company, it's certainly not "definitely" going to close up shop. I think I've got another 1 to 1.5 years of being safe unless something unexpected goes wrong and then I become "at risk" but still not "omg I'm going to lose my job tomorrow!". You've seen me discuss my current job in the programming thread, so you know what I've got going on roughly, if you remember. It's batshit crazy where I am, but the platform I keep up and running solidly pays my salary for now and as long as that is the case I'm fairly safe until my employer gets more desperate for money. And who knows, we've got some more good ideas going on. We've always got good ideas, just terrible, rushed, underfunded implementation.
Yeah, this isn't really true. Focus on getting a job and getting yourself established in it before trying to bring a kid into the world.
Maybe there aren't "good" times, but there are "better" times, and this is not one of them.
Another thing to research is the cost of paying out of pocket for prenatal care and the pregnancy in your area. It isn't a great option and insurance would definitely be better, but the more information you have, the more you can weigh it against the possibility of no employer-based insurance.
Is your wife employed? If so, will her benefits suffice for her and the baby?
Yeah this is an extremely hard call. Startups can be extremely demanding too, though.
Personally I'd probably stick it out, you're probably too valuable to them to replace. Being underpaid sucks, though, I feel your pain as I was once underpaid and the ramifications for that have finally caught up to me.
Yeah, there's a lot to look into. It IS time to get out soon, maybe not for this specific job, though. I'm safe for awhile, just not long term, so I've got time to wait for the right thing to come along. And yeah, the underpaid bit sucks, but I'm underpaid for what I do, not poorly paid in the grand scheme of things. I still earn well above average household income, just not as much above average as I should.
Like I said, I'm just trying to find out what things I should ask that I might not have thought of as far as the job goes and what things I need to look at as far as insurance that I may not have thought of should I temporarily have a less than ideal insurance situation. For instance today I learned that standard health insurance doesn't actually cover maternity stuff. If you do something stupid and your arm falls off, they'll take care of that for you with regular insurance. If you do something stupid and have a human being bursting from your crotch, apparently you're screwed unless you paid extra beforehand. Good to know if I need to go the personal insurance route for a bit.
What is their product?
Things like "creating a hip virtual space for teens to share their thoughts and feelings" is bad. "Create a targeted ad-supported messaging service aimed at teens with home PCs and mobile devices to create brand loyalty through focused branding by our partners" is slightly better.
Who are their customers?
If they say "teens," Walk away. It's the advertisers.
How are they making money?
VC is great, but if it's one guy, that's concerning. What are their long-term plans? Are they hiring an ad agency with skills getting their target market?
What is the competition?
They should know the competition, and what they're better then them. Hopefully know more then just what you get from Hoovers.
Expansion plans.
Both internally (employees, buildings) and externally (product updates, partnerships).
A lot more, but that's some of the highlights.