LinkedinLunatics

Our western society is built on this bullshit. It is the cancer that is killing us all.

A while back I did consulting for a startup where the CEO would hold all-hands meetings at this home -- on Saturday mornings. Attendance wasn't mandatory, but everyone knew it would look bad if they didn't show up. The 'executive team' also met on Sundays, and made sure on Monday standups mentioning that they had met.

They started messaging me about those meetings, and also texting me at all hours about problems they expected looked at right then or the next day. My work was pretty specialized but they kept trying to drag me into other problems they were having.

I very politely told them to go pound sand. Mentioned work-life balance. That I wasn't an employee and would only be available during the contracted hours. Also, that I had other projects and it wouldn't be fair to drop everything just for them. To their credit, they backed off (not that they had a choice).

A few years later, long after I was gone, they completely imploded. Was told things got worse and more frantic towards the end.

Kept seeing the same pattern in subsequent companies. It all stems from bad management.

fuck off Brett. report spam

My actual reply to this nonsense that I’ve experienced before. Tell me what your startup does that benefits humanity. Other than making a few people rich, how does humanity benefit from this product. You want me to give up my life outside of work and I will, the moment you tell me this product will make humanity better.

I’m too tired of this bullshit. These people would rather just keep digging holes than determine the best way to build a house. If you’re ever in this situation, you dodged a bullet.

I doubt this actually happened because we all know our potential bosses are incredibly fragile when it comes to any traces of reality intruding on the bizarre bubble they’ve created for themselves. You’d lie through your teeth and say “I want to work somewhere that is like a family and I’ll work any amount of time until the job is done!”.

Truth to be told, the only good capitalist is a dead one. LinkedIn kinda proves it every day.

Yep, sounds like startups aren't for me!

If I want to work for next to nothing with little chance of it paying off, I'll just keep my real job and keep making my own videogames.

At least that's actually fun.

Ew

No question this guy is a tool, he's posting on LinkedIn. However, he's not wrong about startups being a bad fit for anyone looking for work-life balance. You're literally trying to build a business from scratch as fast as possible before the seed money runs out, and your compensation is usually more equity than salary. No time for anything but work in that scenario, or no one gets paid.

I don't see the problem. He told him honestly: this is not a job for you.

Maybe it's exploitative, maybe not, maybe they are offering stocks. Maybe they are taking a chance on a junior role. Whatever. It's all good if people are honest and if the work is long hours, that those hours are paid. That's it.

I've worked in a startup and a lot of times it's honest people that want to make something succeed and are in a hurry. It's a normal situation. They want someone that's like them, to put in long hours and make it work. I think that's ok, if it's communicated at the start and then paid in some part ownership. And we don't know if that is the case here.

If that’s a decision you make for yourself, that’s great. Do that, as the owner.

Expecting it if anyone else, who, in reality, will never be as into the business as the owner, is exploitative. The level of entitlement in that expectation is not much different than that leechy individual you know who is forever trying to get more from others because he feels like world owes him. Expecting dedication to your dream, not theirs, is like that guy who verbalizes a demand for respect on every occasion.

You want labor, then pay people for it. You want trained, experienced labor, then pay people commensurate with their skill level. This means raises each year as they level up that experience working for you.