Posted on July 30, 2008
I just came across this article about Tata Motor’s Nano car, and found it extremely interesting. The car itself sounds very innovative, but my interest comes from the goal setting and promotion of Tata.
As a startup, you are always treading this fine line between promoting and executing. Those of us in the web community all should know what happens when you over-promote and under-execute (a.k.a. Cuil ). But what the public doesn’t know is that you are really promoting your vision for the company. However, as a leader of a startup, you need to know what you are selling and to whom. Your vision isn’t always what the public needs to hear. Sometimes they just need to know what you can deliver right now.
For those job seekers out there, you also need to take this into consideration. The leaders might have an incredible vision for the startup, but you really have to evaluate if they are the ones capable of executing on that vision. Don’t be afraid to ask the tough questions back in your interviews with the startup and think hard about if your skills and passion are complementary to the startup’s needs.
Posted on July 28, 2008
CoNotes was just reviewed by Kristen Nicole at Mashable.
Article here: CoNotes Matches Job Seekers with Cool Startups (The Startup Review)
Thanks, Kristen and Mashable!
Posted on July 24, 2008
The guys over at Venture Hacks have written a pretty good list of things to think about or find out once you have an offer from a startup.
Some of the items may be hard to find out, but are very important for you to think about. I would say that #10 is the most important by far. A good leader will reflect his/her traits in the decisions that affect the other items on the list.
I’m paraphrasing their list, but for the full text, go here: I have a job offer at a startup, am I getting a good deal?,
I have a job offer at a startup, am I getting a good deal?
1. Get your offer in writing
2. Fair compensation is something inline with what other competitors are paying. Do some research.
3. Look at the terms of your options to determine their worth.
4. Don’t worry about what % of equity your options will vest into…worry about their value (See #3).
5. Can I exercise my unvested options early?
6. Find out how much “runway” does the company have (e.g. how much cash does it have in the bank and how long will it last for). This is a good estimate for how long you can expect to be guaranteed a salary.
7. Ask how much the company’s post-money valuation was in the last round.
8. What cash out preferences do the investors have?
9. Find out who is on the board and why.
10. Think about if you believe in the CEO and board of the company.
Posted on July 24, 2008
One feature that we recently added on CoNotes has been adding the LinkedIn pop-up, so you can see who in your network is connected to a startup. To use this feature, click on the “LinkedIn” link that is in the upper right hand corner of every company profile.
When looking at a company, it is particularly important to get as much information as possible, and the best sources of information are the people you know. We hope you find this feature useful, and would love to hear your thoughts!
Posted on July 21, 2008
CoNotes has just passed the 250 mark for jobs posted! We are hard at work to make sure CoNotes is the best place for you to discover startup job opportunities.
Having been a part of several startups, I wanted to pass on share a few learnings from my experiences which may help you find the perfect job.
1. Entering the unknown
By their very definition, every startup is entering the unknown. It is trying to do something that no other company has done — and this is a difficult thing. It is difficult for the company, and difficult for every person inside the company. You will be doing a lot of guesswork, and making the best decisions possible with very incomplete data. Therefore you must be comfortable working in these conditions and willing to learn from your mistakes (and there will be a lot of those!).
As Donald Rumsfeld said, “There are also unknown unknowns. There are things we do not know we don’t know.” And though he didn’t take his own wisdom to heart, I think it would be wise for you to beware of your company’s unknown unknowns. Don’t pull a Rummy.
2. Get some glasses and focus!
Every startup needs to focus and every member needs to focus. There are so many things going on that it is so easy to get sucked up into doing a lot of things. But what usually happens is that you end up doing a lot of things rather poorly, and nothing well. I definitely fight the urge daily, so wearing my glasses helps me see better.
3. Passion fruit is good. Passion is even better.
The fuel of any startup is the passion of its members. A good startup is like a Jeep. It sucks a lot of fuel, is gangly and rough around the edges. But it can make it over pretty much any terrain it encounters. A Jeep without its fuel will just be stuck in the middle of some crappy place.
But misplaced passion is just as bad as not enough passion. Continuing the analogy, it is the wrong type of fuel. If you join a startup, you need to be passionate about the company and its mission. Granted, there will disagreements within any startup, but you need to believe in what problem the company is trying to solve.
Furthermore, you will be working long hours. You won’t be paid well enough to work so hard, and the only thing that can keep you motivated is your passion. Any maybe when you have one of those nights when you are stressed out, not sure if you made the right decision or not to join this startup, have some passion fruit (it helps to lower blood pressure). Then hopefully you’ll get your passion and passion fruit all in one sitting. What else could be better? Perhaps only an In-N-Out animal style cheeseburger.
If you have found a job through CoNotes, we’d love to hear from you!
Posted on July 10, 2008
Hey there!
As you may have noticed, there has been some major updates to the CoNotes site. We have added a number of features that make finding a great job at a startup company even easier.
These features include:
- Search from the homepage through our database of jobs
- Apply for jobs directly from our site (previously you’d be asked to manually send your resume)
- A recommendation engine that suggests companies for you to look at
- A history list of jobs you have previously viewed and applied for
- A “favorite” list so you can keep track of startups that you are interested in
- Many more!
To take advantage of these new features, you’ll need to create an account, if you haven’t already done so.
Hope you enjoy the improvements! And be on the look out for even more!
-Andrew