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youtube.com - Musician and Best Buy employee, Keith Parsons, rocks his Best Buy holiday campaign audition.
25 Comments
- OfNumbers, on 07/22/2009, -5/+20Guy Kawasaki can barely run his own site, Alltop.com, without piggybacking off another company, Twitter. Hardly the kind of person to depend upon for worthy advice.
- spanky6256000, on 07/21/2009, -4/+13Awesome, awesome info.
- jer2eydevil88, on 07/22/2009, -0/+4Unless you are interested in low pay and long hours I suggest you don't try a start up without outside funding.
- inactive, on 07/21/2009, -4/+8Amen to that, I've been running start-ups for the last 5 years. The only other question I would throw in there, if working directly for the owners/proprietors is "do you have experience in this sort of venture?"
- stackolee, on 07/22/2009, -0/+411. Who are the "owners"?
Technology/engineering should have an equal voice with business. There's a rule of thumb to look for: two co owners, one to develop the products and architecture and one to put on the suit and round up clients. In my experience it doesn't always work out, but when the owners are totally business centric or totally tech centric, their company probably won't last long.
12. How long has the company been around?
Eventually a company needs to step up to the next level. If the company is eleven years old, still has less than twenty employees, and is still touting themselves as a 'start up', odds are it's nowhere you want to be.
- samard2002, on 07/22/2009, -1/+5The only time I read about this guy is when he's gushing about his own knowledge, which he seems to do endlessly and without provocation. Case in point -- this link. He titled the article he wrote with his own name "Guy Kawasaki's 10 Questions... by Guy Kawasaki". A byline just ain't enough credit for the Twitter generation, I guess.
Check out his tweetingtoohard call outs for more gems:
http://tweetingtoohard.com/u/guykawasaki - RyeBrye, on 07/22/2009, -0/+3"What is the post-money valuation of your last round?"
I was interviewing with a startup once that wouldn't answer that question. (or a few others). They got pissy and accused me of being too nosy. Meh. Good riddance. (I didn't go there) - stackolee, on 07/22/2009, -0/+3To get a straight answer to #1, ask about who you'd be replacing. If you're actually replacing someone and the company's not just expanding, that should be a red flag. Poor managers are never bashful when given the opportunity to blame ex coworkers for their company's problems.
If it seems like management has been constantly let down by the people who held the position you're applying for, walk away. - nepidae, on 07/22/2009, -0/+2who cares, at least it was all on one page
- 4AntiStupid, on 07/24/2009, -0/+1#9 is a big one especially in technical startups. There seems to be this "if we implement it, they will come" fantasy world out there.
- MrDoug, on 07/22/2009, -4/+5Guy is a great...er...guy. He writes well, and knows his *****.
We had a candidate that asked us a lot of these questions, and we had good, truthful answers for him. The result was us getting a guy we didn't think would work for what we offered, and it ended up benefiting our company in ways we couldn't have imagined. - ptron, on 07/22/2009, -0/+1Also do that math and figure out what percentage of the company you'll own once all your options have vested. They may give you 100,000 shares at a strike price of 10 cents, sounds good at first... but if they have 40mil shares outstanding, or prefered investors, it's *****.
- tomarocco, on 07/22/2009, -1/+2Always go for the money. Get as much of it as you can while it is there. When it runs out immediately jump ship and go somewhere else where you can get more. Repeat as necessary.
- LeoSaraceni, on 07/22/2009, -0/+1Wish more companies were able to answer this 4 questions. It's been my experience that startups have very little control of employee turnover, and hardly ever pay attention to HR.
- mmx2000, on 07/22/2009, -0/+1Yes and no; if you're not passionate about the endeavor, and are not tied via compensation to its potential success, don't bother.
However, if there is potential for meaningful, REALISTIC upside (not pipedreams and promises), you feel they have a solid business plan with a sustainable revenue stream, it may be worth it. - nepidae, on 07/22/2009, -0/+1Great list, my favorite was the shipping question because of how surprisingly true it is.
- Barackalypse, on 07/22/2009, -6/+61. What is your yearly employee turnover (beware anyone that cannot or refuses to answer).
2. What reason is most frequently given by departing employees for leaving the company?
3. What percentage of an employee's weekly time is spent on non-value added tasks like timesheets, department meetings, HR seminars, etc?
4. Do you have a formal review process? - jer2eydevil88, on 07/22/2009, -3/+1I've been running one for two years and this Q/A is more geared toward those who are going in assuming risk and reward.
Also as a small but annoying plug, if you live in Chicago and want a low paying but highly rewarding technical job with a career path hit up careers@zigzap.com :-D. /plug <sarcastic comments about low paying jobs> - airwalke, on 07/22/2009, -4/+2Mint FTW! Not only is this a great personal finance site, this is a great article. Dugg.
- bizchris, on 07/22/2009, -4/+2Nice attack without addressing the content - which I thought wasn't bad, except #'s 8 and 9 came across as way too cocky.
- bshock, on 07/22/2009, -3/+1Question 11: Why am I listening to a demonstrably idiotic person like Guy Kawasaki?
Seriously, have you ever read the ***** this ***** has foisted on the public over the years? Ridiculous. - DonavonHill, on 07/21/2009, -5/+0sweet!
- RhymeThyme, on 07/22/2009, -6/+0Verbal Kint FTW! Not only is this a great personnel romance, right, this is a great particle. Hugg.
- JLMEALER, on 07/22/2009, -7/+1ofnumbers... Guy has started up several zero to profitable companies. That's where his expertise sits.
We've taken his advice on patents and are looking at funding this summer.
JL Mealer
Mealer Companies LLC
America's Next Major Automaker and Green Energy Source Provider!
http://mealercompanies.com - shuukiru, on 07/22/2009, -8/+1Bacon.
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