Ask HN: Which startups treat non-working hours/days with respect?

8 points·crossroadsguy··6 comments

I feel there may be a disconnect between reality and expectations behind this question.

Building a business from scratch is a huge effort and not usually compatible with a 9-5 schedule, leave early on Fridays especially when the team is small.

It's the company's responsibility to manage effort, staff levels, timelines and overtime compensation. So when you say that it takes more than 9-5, what I hear is that they need more staff, longer time frames for delivery, or to pay higher rates for overtime but instead they're extracting the additional cost for free out of naive 20-something-year-olds who have been brainwashed to think that "being passionate" = working for free.

The way I read you comment is that "the company can just spend more" so that everyone can work 9-5. The reality of starting a business, or even running a business in general, is that cash is limited (isn't it always?).

It's not about 'working for free', either. It's recognising what the reality is. Working for a startup is a choice and a trade-off. IMHO, wanting to work for a startup but only 9-5 is a little unrealistic.

What you describe is a little bit working for free. If you’re not being paid for those hours and you do not have a stake in the business, then you are effectively giving money to the owner.

There can be N numbers of reasons for 'why' part, but 'what' part is - working for free.

In general you're better off working at a later stage startup if you want reasonable hours. I started working at a startup after it raised a Series A and then left a year after it raised its Series C; in that time I went from working 9:00am-7:30/8:00pm to 9:00am-5:30/6:00pm with the occasional late working day.

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