You're conflating a choice being likely to fail and being a bad decision. The former is not the latter if the expected value is high enough and you can bear the risk.
-
The 1st employee bears about the same risk as the founders but gets 1/40th the upside, need to pick an unicorn to cash out >1M. VCs can spread out their risk with companies, early employees cannot, and I assume no better than VCs at picking winners.
The first employee has the same risk as the founders at the point they join the company, but the founders started earlier when the risk was much greater. The point where they hire employee #1 is like a minute after the big bang. The universe is already enormous.
-
-
Also early employees can “spread out risk” (like black-swan-farming VCs) by trying lots of small experiments in the context of their single business/product. C.f. rule 2 https://www.edge.org/conversation/nassim_nicholas_taleb-understanding-is-a-poor-substitute-for-convexity-antifragility …
-
I would challenge how realistic that is. As employee 1 or 10 (or even 30) you’re probably working insanely hard already if your company is growing. Working on side projects for downside protection doesn’t seem viable and wasn’t the case for me or anyone else I know.
- Show replies
New conversation -
-
-
If a startup doesn’t work out, the early employees often end up doing a lot better financially overall than the founders.
-
not to mention early employees don’t have to worry about the _really_ bad consequences if things go far south, the least of which include damaged reputation
- Show replies
New conversation -
-
-
Some of us were trained on the streets and couldn't get a fancy job at a FAANG company early on, so the startup life was the ticket.
Thanks. Twitter will use this to make your timeline better. UndoUndo
-
-
-
When exactly does the Big Bang occur though? If it’s at the genesis of the idea, you have a hard time differentiating between Founder #2 and Employee #1 in many (not all) cases.
-
Also, how do you reconcile the (I believe correct) wisdom that ideas are worth far less than execution and Employee #1 is executing just as much if not more than Founders in many cases?
End of conversation
New conversation -
-
-
In addition, 1st employee can always leave, doesn’t have the same legal obligations. Founders signed up for a long ride with their co-founders and investors - in good times and bad times.
Thanks. Twitter will use this to make your timeline better. UndoUndo
-
-
-
Was a little upset that I didn’t reap the big rewards as an early employee, nor negotiated equity at my first startup that exited within 3 yrs. However, the credibility and experience is immeasurable, esp when looking to start my own company, and the opportunities I get bc of it.
Thanks. Twitter will use this to make your timeline better. UndoUndo
-
Loading seems to be taking a while.
Twitter may be over capacity or experiencing a momentary hiccup. Try again or visit Twitter Status for more information.