Questions regarding all things related to employment of people in the company.
2
votes
1answer
321 views
C Corporation single shareholder / highly-compensated employee limitations?
If I'm a single shareholder/owner and employee of a C Corporation, am I limited from taking any deductions due to being a highly-compensated employee (due to share ownership)?
2
votes
2answers
171 views
Founders' reliance on IT manager/network admin
I am (co-)starting a company with the bought assets of my previous (software) company, dormant for over a year. The IT guy from the previous company is coming on board to help revive the server (needs ...
2
votes
2answers
179 views
What should I ask a startup's investors as a potential employee?
So, I was reading Guy Kawasaki's questions to ask a startup. One of them is to ask if you can speak with one of the investors on the Board of Directors. A startup that offered me a job asked me if I ...
306
votes
27answers
138k views
If I'm working at a company, do they have intellectual property rights to the stuff I do in my spare time?
I was interviewed by a lady from Zynga and she told me that Zynga doesn't allow developers to have side projects. Is this true for companies in general, or just a minority that Zynga is a part of? ...
5
votes
7answers
427 views
As a potential employee, should I frown on “zerg hiring”?
In my job hunt, it's incredibly common for me to run into startups that have say 3 people and then have the CTO tell me "We just closed a round of funding, so we're looking to hire 3 or 4 more ...
1
vote
1answer
97 views
Creating an online downloadable multiplayer game
I have a concept for an online multiplayer game which would require the user to download a lobby interface to access the online content. I am looking for advice for where to look for people who would ...
3
votes
2answers
285 views
Equity for strategic hires?
We're a small (but growing) consulting firm with software to be developed as a side stream (yes, I know this is an original story :)). 3 partners, equal equity.
We've worked with a few people in the ...
3
votes
2answers
2k views
Small US company wants to hire one German employee in Germany
We are a small U.S. company with about 30 employees. We would like to hire one employee in Germany who is a German citizen and will work out of his home. He will primarily be writing software on a ...
5
votes
3answers
393 views
Where/how do I find sales people, in the United States, to work for my start-up. Is there a website for this kind of situation
My start-up is finally coming together; however, I am in dire need of a solid sales team to go out into the market and attract customers. I want to pay them per store they sign-up. Can anyone refer me ...
5
votes
2answers
1k views
Compensation for co-founders and employees in a startup
In my earlier venture attempts, the scenario was something like 3 guys, each of whom would get 33.3%. I found out soon that this was silly because as soon as one of us lost interest, he could do ...
3
votes
3answers
606 views
How to motivate team members?
I have recently formed an e-learning company. Things are doing fine however I feel I need to learn how to motivate others in my company and surroundings. When I try to do that people feel I am doing ...
6
votes
3answers
5k views
As a member of an LLC, how do I pay myself a salary? 1099 or W-2?
If I am a member of my LLC can I be paid as an employee and be on a payroll? Is this different in each state or is it federally regulated? If our LLC is to have employees do we need a different number ...
6
votes
3answers
3k views
How much in stock options should we offer new employees?
We're a software startup with annual revenue in the ballpark of half a million. We're completely bootstrapped, and have no current plans to take funding. We currently have 4 employees. We're ...
6
votes
8answers
858 views
As an employer should we care about the employee's welfare?
Do you think as an employer we should care about the employee's welfare? Should we care about our employees' financial difficulties, and raise their salaries [i.e because prices are going up] or lend ...
5
votes
3answers
130 views
Holiday gifts for employees
I am pretty bad with gifts and in the past years I was awarding monetary bonuses to folks who work with us. I am not particularly keen on the idea of bonuses mostly due to the fact that we can't quite ...
1
vote
4answers
289 views
Does A Startup Need A Full-Time CIO For Making Investors Happy?
Here's the scenario: there's a startup with two founders (and a couple of other participants) in it working part-time while keeping their full-time, primary jobs. They are building a ...
2
votes
5answers
121 views
How to handle external help in a startup
We're a startup that is made up of 4 students. 3 graduated and 1 in his final year. One has taken a job for 4 days a week and is willing to work on our projects the other 3 days. So we have 2 ...
2
votes
2answers
224 views
Examples of Ex-Googlers/Ex-Microsofters Build Successful Companies and Have a Solid Relationship with Their Former Company? [closed]
I am looking for examples of ex-Googlers or Ex-Microsofters ( or other big companies leavers) who, after leaving the established company, went on to build their own, became hugely successful in their ...
4
votes
1answer
446 views
How do I pay myself from a UK-based startup?
I've been self-employed as a sole trader for over a year, but now I want to form a private limited company and trade via that (I'm in IT, and some organisations here won't contract an individual ...
1
vote
7answers
221 views
What Is The Best Way to Manage An International Startup?
My startup has employees who are in different places at different times. What is the best way to manage and to centralise files, emails, communications, ...? Would the web be the best place to start?
9
votes
12answers
2k views
What are the pros and cons of employees that work remotely?
What are the considerations as we consider employees that would work remotely? I'm particularly thinking about technical positions (programming, web site maintenance) that are remote due to geography ...
11
votes
9answers
1k views
How to deal with key employee who didn't show up for work?
I run a small consulting company, four people. Myself and another employee were out of the office on business today, the third was on a requested and agreed upon vacation. The fourth did not show up ...
1
vote
3answers
72 views
Hiring an in-office writer
I am in the process of moving my home website business into commercial office space because I need to hire an employee (or two) to help with all of the work.
I need to hire a writer - but the person ...
3
votes
5answers
2k views
What are the US laws governing taxation of remote employees from other countries?
Hi Id like to ask what are US laws that govern taxation when you hire remote employees from
other countries specifically Argentina, Philippines, Venezuela and Poland?
1
vote
4answers
91 views
Starting New School 2nd Question
Also,
Initially we will be starting as a business/entrepreneurship school. I've toyed with two ideas for teachers. Experience entrepreneurs or somewhat experienced generalists that have great and ...
4
votes
2answers
480 views
Staff numbers “rules of thumb”
I am looking for "rules of thumb", or estimates for the numbers of staff required for a startup through growth.
For example how many developers per manager, how many support staff per customer, how ...
3
votes
3answers
179 views
How to recover from the loss of a project?
I had a project where I had employed 25 people, and the client took back the project. Now all the employees are completely idle.
Any suggestions for how I can cope up with the sudden loss? I am ...
5
votes
4answers
161 views
Talking about fundraising with employees
I'm in the middle of raising money for my startup. We have had some initial success (and lots of failed attempts!), and are getting close to finalizing our round. We are a very small company right ...
3
votes
8answers
516 views
What qualification and/or skills should I look for while hiring a web designer?
I am about to launch a website, which I got created through a freelancer. However, I am not very pleased with freelancer's performance and plan to hire someone full-time to make required iterations in ...
11
votes
6answers
1k views
How to reward early employees?
In many startups there are some #1 or #2 employees who helped the whole business all the way.
I've got couple guys like that, I'd love to give them more than the salary (even though our salaries are ...
5
votes
3answers
654 views
Proper procedure for providing references for former employees
I'm the founder of a company and I recently received a call for a reference check on one of our former employees. I'm wondering what standard protocol for handling these. I've heard that in many ...
3
votes
5answers
383 views
What Are My Health Insurance Options When Hiring First Employee(s)?
My 7-year-old small business is about to graduate from being a
home-based business to moving into a small commercial office space and
hiring its first employee(s).
For the past several years, my ...
1
vote
1answer
166 views
What are Keogh Plan Implications When Hiring First Employee(s)?
My small business is about to graduate from being a home-based business to moving into a small commercial office space and hiring its first employee(s).
In 2004 and 2005, the business had ...
16
votes
14answers
6k views
Should I put my “startup” experience on my resume?
I have a similar question to this one regarding putting your "startup" on your resume. I have a full time job and started a small company on the side. My startup isn't a product company - I've been ...
1
vote
2answers
89 views
Multiple twitterers / one company
I'm pretty new to twitter ( http://twitter.com/roadbud). I'm hoping to build customer relationships, provide customer service, engage people with blog, and lead prospects towards our product (iPhone ...
4
votes
1answer
266 views
How is hiring and relocation handled for non-local job candidates of a venture-backed startup?
I am interesting in moving out to another city to work at a promising startup, particularly one with venture funding and user traction.
How do venture-backed startups generally handle candidates who ...
2
votes
3answers
151 views
Securing contract with a freelancer
I wonder - is it possible to sign a contract with a freelancer for a regular contract job securely?
I mean how can I justify that all the work he has done will be given to my company and nobody else ...
1
vote
1answer
513 views
Has anyone set up an FSA for dependent care?
Does anyone offer a Flexible Spending Account for dependent care to their employees as a benefit? If so, whom do you use as an administrator and what are the costs of administration?
4
votes
6answers
1k views
What do I need to know about hiring an intern?
My bootstrapped startup (Textaurant) needs some help with market research. Since we're so close to two of my alma maters (undergrad is ~1 mile, grad is ~5 miles), I figured I would reach out to their ...
2
votes
2answers
376 views
Legal issues with contract labor?
Are there any legal pitfalls I should know about when creating a service where I pay users to provide a service to customers? The model I'm thinking about is like Amazon Turk for a certain vertical. ...
7
votes
8answers
763 views
How to get the passion back and to stay focused and organized?
I've been running my business for 3 years now. It's grown substantially and doing quite well but I seem to be losing the passion of running the business. I'm interested in doing newer things but need ...
6
votes
15answers
8k views
What PEO providers are out there other than TriNet? What questions should I ask potential PEO providers? [closed]
Looking at PEO (professional employee organization) providers - just wanted to get a sense for who else is out there other than TriNet. I only know about TriNet from Feld's AskTheVC blog: ...
2
votes
8answers
1k views
Who owns the IP rights for a product you're making outside working hours (in USA)?
Does the company you're currently work for owns the IP rights if you are creating a product after work hours? Is there anything that can defend me if the company at one point claims that they own it ...
4
votes
12answers
2k views
Advice about an offer at a startup company
So here's the situation:
I was discovered by a startup company through some of my work. I was interviewed by one of the cofounders, and they were interested in putting me on their team full-time.
My ...
5
votes
7answers
974 views
Advice/Resources on Performance Reviews for Employees
We're getting ready to formalize our processes around employee reviews and I wondered if anyone had some great advice and/or links to articles/resources that are valuable on the subject. I've never ...
4
votes
1answer
692 views
The compensation equation - what's a good mix?
Here is the compensation equation, as I see it:
Equity - how much ownership one has, and when (roughly) it will be worth something
Wage - how much salary one recieves
Career - how the position ...
1
vote
1answer
103 views
Is there a career in early-stage marketing?
The person I have in mind is an early-stage marketing & sales person, someone who exclusively specializes in taking early-stage startups from a beta customer or two to some point of critical mass. ...
10
votes
23answers
2k views
Getting a New Hire to Work More
We recently hired a junior developer as employee #1 at our startup. He's doing a great job on all fronts (produces good work, gets along with team, etc.) with one exception--he isn't working long ...
2
votes
4answers
380 views
Can employee's pet projects help startup business's success?
As many of you know, companies like Google and 3M give the employees 20% of their time to work on something that really excite them the most.
I also been thinking maybe this can be a good strategy ...
1
vote
6answers
855 views
Managing growth in a “private office culture” startup
This question is related to another one, "Ideal office space layout - open or offices?", but I think it's worth a question of its own.
There are many voices advocating that developers have to be in ...
