Ask HN: First employee salary? | Hacker News Reader

Ask HN: First employee salary?

2 pointsqixxiq2 comments

I've been working on a fully bootstrapped (github style) startup for almost eight months now. We're profitable enough to consider hiring our first employee, although really need some advice about their salary and been struggling to find any.

We're based far outside of developer communities, and therefore have a rather small pool of talent to search in. We have a move on the cards, but for now its way too expensive (and we like it here). The amounts listed are roughly the minimum I believe they will accept.

Option 1. Two years experience out of college (Masters). I know him personally and top quality coder but lacking experience. +/- $2500/month

Option 2. Six years experience dealing with similar areas to our startup. Seems good but I honestly don't know for sure. +/- $5000/month

Option 3. International employee willing to move to us. Haven't met him so quite nervous of this idea, visa going to be quite a problem but not as much as for US companies. Skills seem roughly equivalent to option 2. +/- $2500/month

Option 4. Look for someone internationally that will telecommute. To be honest I'm not against telecommuting but don't like the idea for a first employee. Really need them on the ground with me to discuss the system in depth, so have not looked yet.

At the moment we're leaning strongly on the experienced guy, but at that salary its going to be a major hit for our company. I'm also very worried about raises/etc if they're starting with a high salary already ($5000 is far above market average here). I'd love to hear some advice from your experiences, or maybe suggestions of where to find that advice (searchyc.com didn't get me many results).

Option 4.

While it may seem daunting, with technologies like Skype, and interactive whiteboards it is as good as being right there. Once you force yourself out of your comfort zone you will also find that these technologies can make you more productive.

I currently work with a team that is distributed around the globe and we do well, some developers had to adapt there work times so some guys work 2am-12am'ish. Anyway we do just fine, we are as productive if not more so than a structured office development team.

It completely changed my perception of a fully distributed team. The collaboration is there just like an office, the comradeship is there just like the office but many times the distractions are not.

Anyways, long story short I would recommend it even for a first employee. I used to have the perception that developers would be isolated and that that innovative environment would not be fostered over the distance of communication technology. It is one of the many cases in my life where I could not have been more wrong. Not only should you not exclude it, you should strongly consider it.

The saving implications from not having to provide infrastructure and space for developers alone is enough to give it consideration from a start-ups perspective.

As a side note: these are really interesting times to be in the start-up development world. With cloud based application and the possibility of distributed teams. One can achieve their idea on almost pure effort alone. The capital required is becoming more and more marginalized.

My advice is to really work out the value proposition. How much value is the first employee going to bring when it comes to revenues and how fast will those revenues materialize? $5k just isn't that much money but if it feels like it will over-stress your business then maybe you are not ready for an employee and need to keep progressing the way you have been even if it means you move slower than you would like.

The other option I would consider is contracting out some projects to the experienced engineer if he is open to it and discover more about what he can do, how he can help, and get a real feeling for what he will bring to the business.

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