Says Calacanis: "... the majority of Gen Y seem to operating under the bizarre rallying cry of: More money! Less responsibility! Shorter hours! No stress! More freedom! It’s all about me!"
Yeah, shame on the employees for wanting better job conditions and admitting they actually care about own interest.
a) We have amazing job conditions: organic food cooked all day by our chefs, laundry service, car washing, personal trainers, unlimited monitors, killer espresso machine, developer-driven product design, etc.
b) My point is it is fine to care about your own interests--but not more than the mission and success of the company. There is no 'i' in team, and you either succeed as a team or you fail as a team.
That's the reality of startups, so the players who are concerned with their stat line are not the players you want on your team.
About 2/3rds of the Gen Y folks I meet at thinking of themselves first and the company 2nd or 3rd--if at all in some cases.The other 1/3rd are hard working, dedicated and have a sense of Giri.
So being one of the few people in this thread that has worked with Jason, I wanted to chime in for a second.
Jason is totally demanding and pushes everyone around him to their limits. Yes. True.
But, underneath all the bulldog, seriously the guy has a heart of gold. Sometimes he doesn't show it, and even he'd admit some level of narcissism, but from personal experience, I can fully say that working with Jason changed my career for the better in every way.
I originally worked with Jason at Weblogs, Inc., and as we were acquired by AOL, worked with him on the relaunch of Netscape. I went through a personal tragedy during the launch of the site, and Jason / the team were instrumental in me coming out of that with my wits about me.
To be clear: Jason is hard to work with. He does joust publicly, which I would attribute to his form of marketing.
I have absolutely no inside knowledge of his actual tactics, but my guess is he takes on someone who he knows people don't like, then points out their flaws over time, figuring eventually he'll come out on top since his side of the story looks so rosy by comparison. Oh, and he does this by being fairly hyperbolic. (Mainstream media, junkets in journalism, Gawker, Pay-to-play angels, SEOs, off the top of my head.)
That all aside, I think working with Jason set me up to have a wide-eyed view of startups. I treasured the experience, and while I think everyone should evaluate their personal limits carefully before embarking on a career with someone who will literally push all of them, I don't think anyone who's worked with him has regret the time they spent with Jason. That doesn't mean all of them want to work with him again... but I heartily encourage anyone who wants to be pushed to work with him. It will be a hugely rewarding experience professionally. It was for me, anyway.
Randall...well said. I don't doubt that Jason has a 'heart of gold'. I tend to find that people that are extremely passionate about things, do/say incendiary things that tend to attract attention (both good and bad).
I respect him for having the balls to say what he really thinks. Not many people do. However, I don't believe that he really believes everything he says. I think he has reached the point where he realizes the pay off (lots of attention), that it becomes naturally for everything he says to come out like that.
I am sure that many people would be pushed, but you can push people (and get the most out of them) without being a tyrant.
For instance, I played the violin for many years (save the 'he is a pussy for playing the violin' comments...kthnxbi) and had several teachers. I had a mix...some that were clearly doing it for just a paycheck (not pushing me enough), others that pushed me tyranically (a la Calacanis style) that I rebelled against and didn't perform like I knew I could, and my last one that was absolutely amazing at pushing me to leaps and bounds in a much shorter time than I had ever thought I could reach. So much so, that even though I spent an aggregate of 6 or 7 years with the first 2 or 3 and only progressed let's say '2 or 3' levels, with the last, in the space of 2 years, I progressed 6 or 7 levels and actually became a teacher myself - learning those same techniques of learning how people learn and how to get the best out of each individual and pushing them to achieve their best using a mechanism that will work with them.
So I say that to say, that every manager/leader wants the best out of their people. Some take a blanket approach (like Jason seems to have done) that, in my opinion, don't work in the long-run and in aggregate...and more importantly would never work for me. Hence the reason for my blog post.
It was a blast to watch you grow from an outsider in the industry with some raw skills, into an in-demand Jedi Randall! Continued success and I can't wait until you start your own company and pitch at the Open Angel Forum!
I worked for him for the first 2.5 years of Mahalo. I got hired right after dropping out of college. During my time there I was promoted twice, got to spend 3 months paid to live over seas and went to a party at the playboy mansion.
Say what you will about him or his style but my experience was was a net positive and if you turn the clock back and I'd do it again.
Watching you go from drop out to samurai/killer/jedi has been thrilling. Some day you'll start your own company, present at the Open Angel Forum and launch at the LAUNCH conference (www.launch.is), and I'll be lucky enough to invest!!! Keep rocking Mike!
Surely there has been lots of debate about his statements in the past. Rather than spending time on his polarizing way of gaining attention, the best solution is to let him do business his way and channel our energies into more productive directions. The last time I checked, no one is forced to work for Jason.
On a minor side note: Am I the only one to notice that he seems to move quite a lot with his body during the interview?
I really need to write a filter to keep him off my screen, since just about everything Jason writes or says ends up getting me a bit riled. Just yesterday he sent out an e-mail saying that if you can't drop $10,000 on a premium domain name for your unfunded startup, you're not worth investing in... and proves how easy it is by listing the $133,000 he's spent on domains himself.
I say clearly that you can start with a good domain that might cost only $10 to $2,000 and THEN use your VC/angel money to upgrade the domain later (like delicious did, for example).
$133k on domain names is insignificant. Don't be impressed by it... CNET owns $20M in domains, AOL owns $50m in domain names and there are many individuals who own millions.
My point in listing the domains I've gotten and how much I've spent for them is that it is a) not that expensive compared to the value they provide and b) that I've got some experience in this space and you might want to listen and read what I'm saying.
Please go back and a) re-read the piece and b) don't be so obsessed with big number.
I stopped watching TWiST for a while and almost unsubscribed from his newsletter because the Arrington drama was very Jersey Shore - minus the fake boobs.
Despite his personality flaws, which we all have, the guy gives incredible advice that is actionable. And he does it consistently.
Most popular speakers that we admire give far less valuable advice. The usefulness of "Be passionate, do less" pales in comparison to "Be consistent, plan out segments, publish on the same day at the same time".
Anthony...I have to agree with you that he gives a lot of great actionable advice. Sometimes, he also spouts something of value (e.g. warning startups not to build their company on top of Facebook).
But he goes off on so many topics and said such crap some times, that it fully discounts all the great stuff he has said.
This is one of those things.
Besides, he doesn't just have 'personality' flaws. He seems to be such a genuine dick. Not the good type that produces insane quality stuff (a la Steve Jobs). The type that have gotten lucky, and think they are God's gift to everybody else, and are yet to keep producing. The fiasco surrounding him berating a now ex-exmployee and his falling out with Arrington and TechCrunch do nothing but confirm the prick that I think he is.
Time will tell how he fares.
If I were looking for Angel money, I would never take money from him either.
Can you imagine someone like that having leverage over you in any shape or form? Either a boss or an investor? Hell no!
You also just wrote a story about Jason Calacanis... The only thing you forgot to do was link to Mahalo.
You might not want to work for him, but you should at least respect his shtick is genius and very effective at getting coverage and links, which works nicely since his company is an SEO play.
Thank you God!!!please include the following links when link-baiting me OR I WILL NOT tweet you back or link to you from my high page-rank blog: www.mahalo.com www.calacanis.com www.launch.is www.openangelforum.com
But he's very successful. Who's viewpoint are we supposed to champion here - the employee or the employer? Should we not be happy when an employer is successful and can get a lot from his employees with minimal expense? Does the process of building a startup not put us squarely in the side of the employer?
This is a general question and not specifically to you: how successful is he? I have him mentally associated with netscape.com and a bad digg clone, and some time on the VC side of the table - so for people like me who don't know the background there, what did he do entrepreneurially and how well did he do for himself and his investors?
Actually, in startups everyone is aligned in their interest due to stock options. Anyone who looks at it as employer/employee just doesn't get the startup dynamic. As an investor in 20 startups I'm constantly pushing to give more stock options to employees, and as the founder of three companies with over 100 f/t employees and 250 part-time folks, I'm constantly pushing to increase stock compensation over cash comp. Why
I wrote my reply on your blog, but I'll re-post it here:
Well, I think you missed Jason's point frankly. He said people who work for him end up going on to achieve great things, and that is true. Sean Percival, for instance, worked at Mahalo two years ago, and now he's the VP of Online Marketing at MySpace. A huge jump in two years (Percival was not a well-known figure when he started at Mahalo). It seems that many people can use Jason as a springboard. He is a great connection to have, and if you own stock, you can probably make a lot of money. (Mahalo will be sold to Demand Media in 2011, so yes, the product is "great," as in, it will have a solid exit, which is the point).
Different people respond better to different leadership styles. Some people could not stand playing for Bobby Knight. Others liked his "I'm going to challenge you until you break" style. It's really a matter of personal preference.
Think about this... Jason needs visibility. People who spend so much energy hating him, provide him the visibility he needs. Some people will hate him just like some people hate Steve Jobs. Now when an Apple fanboy fights a naysayer, Apple benefits even if both sides are equally adamant. If a Jason hater argues with Jason's padawans ;-) with equal enthusiasm, probably Jason gains. Anyway jason's gains are non measurable but somehow it looks like a gain to my possibly naive eyes.
But all this has a good side for the entrepreneur... If Arrington and Jason keep fighting each other the entrepreneur benefits coz no single superpower rules tech media. They will both need to treat the entrepreneur with more respect than if they could "collude with each other" ;-).
Jason is notorious enough in the HN circles that if you choose to work for him after hearing all you have heard, you are either an idiot or a genius. Do the math of creating ur startup v/s joining him as an employee and if the math doesn't work out, don't bother to apply :-).
I remember reading a pg essay that each successive employee brings in less and less value... something like 1:1/4:1/9:...1/n^2
that is not hours of work but value. As the nth employee if you do not get what u deserve, for creating 1/n^2 of the value, just move on, else stay back.
I hope someone creates a startup that computes a desirability of working with various startups, angel investors and the like. Something like seatgeek with parameters like how handsomely the employees are rewarded, how tolerable the workplace is and so on. I guess there is a smooth curve from being the first employee to being the millionth. Each person can choose his own sweet spot.
Neither would I, but does that mean he has a hiring problem? His advice is not necessarily bad advice for a business. Granted, he'll never create a great product, but neither will most businesses. If he can drive people to turn a profit that way, then he'll be doing better than most entrepreneurs. Wanting people who are willing to work 80 hours a week is probably one of the less ethically questionable things in his business plan.
False dichotomy: either it's working eighty hours a week or working nine to five.
It's true that employees in a startup should be flexible: being willing to work late some days, work from home in an emergency, travel with a laptop (in return, startups are also more flexible: no one cares that you're not in your desk at 0930 or if you're working from home or a cafe).
However, eighty hour weeks usually happen for very specific reasons and are followed by less intense periods: it's not a generally applicable way of doing more with less. If you want to do more with less, hire better people (who frequently have other options available to them and won't work on a team that demands eight hour weeks as a matter of routine).
I've been at Mahalo for about 1 1/2 years now, and I can certainly appreciate what all of you are saying about how I'd have to be an idiot to work here. Luckily I had no idea who Jason was when I started, so I didn't know all of the lore surrounding his insanity. Most of it is exactly that. People get together and sensationalize his attitude and statements (he encourages this a bit with his public persona, I'll grant you that).
For the most part, working with him has been a pleasant experience. He can flip out from time to time, often there's a good reason, sometimes not. He's not much more crazy than any other boss I've ever had, and his contributions to Mahalo far outweigh any of this.
On the plus side, we get sweet perks, our internal culture is awesome (because we don't get slackers on the team), and we're doing some very cool stuff on the technical side of things. (Expect to see more of that in the future, and if you're ever in LA, stop by the ScaleLA or LA Django meetups we host.)
That said, I'm a little dismayed that hacker news spends so much time gossiping about Jason. Get over it guys. If you don't want to work for him, don't. If you do, send over a resume.
My son Darren works for Jason at Mahalo. He is too busy working to comment here...so I will for him :-)
Darren works 6 or 7 days a week because he loves what he is doing, and is learning a ton from Jason. Yes, he is tough and has high expectations. But, Jason is the best mentor and teacher around.
Jason isn't for everyone, but if you want to rise to the top really fast...a ride with Jason will get you there.
This is more a comment on the video interview than the marcgayle.com post.
I don't think Mr Calacanis' statements are incendiary. He explains eloquently what kind of people and attitude he is looking for, and doesn't seem to have a problem with people that don't match his requirements. I really don't see the problem with that.
There seems to be a theme here. "Jason is a jerk because he's overly confident and brags and expects people to work hard." So? That's the exact type of person who should be running a startup. When you're facing long odds against you, only someone who's completely confident in themselves and their idea will get over the hurdle. Frankly there's almost nothing worse than working for a meek, type-b manager who doesn't have a clear vision. Believe me, I've done it. As a side note: I'd work for Jason in a heartbeat, work as many hours as necessary and do whatever I could to help his company succeed. And I'd relocate to LA tomorrow if there was a spot for me. Because working there is worth more than the money you'd make. After you invest your time with him he'll invest with you. He said as much in the video. Will your boss do that?
The irony of this post is that Jason would most definitely not want you in his company.
In a startup, which his companies are, there really is no room for people want normal jobs and want to work normal hours. Startup life is a very fast paced constant swim upstream. You're trying to cram years worth of work into months to create enormous value as quickly as possible. ALL startups want "rockstar" employees as they help this process exponentially. What he's stating is not really anything different than any other start up founder would say he/she wants, its just he says it in a very inflammatory way.
"Don't get me wrong, I am not knocking Jason personally, I just think his work values are wack. Correction, I think his values (or those that I can see by his public persona) are wack."
I don't know Jason Calacanis, his personality or anything. His "I'm never tired, keep up with me" is.... odd to say the least.
Nevertheless, I do agree with his "I want to surround myself with people who can work at my pace, work 80 hours a week not caring about life balance." Maybe not at a large company, but at an early stage startup I WANT people around me who are working hard and determined to make their product successful because they care about it.
What's so bad about what Calacanis said? 70-80 hour weeks are not unheard of in the startup world...
If you're gonna expect me to work eighty hours a week, there'd better be a seriously large payoff. In particular, it'd have to be much more than twice what I could get by working forty hours a week; it'd have to be at least four times as much.
I don't get the impression that he's offering that much extra value to his employees.
Please don't introduce a fair and logical argument in this thread or you will be voted down by the SEOs who have 20 astroturf accounts designed to slam me.
[+] [-] praptak|15 years ago|reply
Says Calacanis: "... the majority of Gen Y seem to operating under the bizarre rallying cry of: More money! Less responsibility! Shorter hours! No stress! More freedom! It’s all about me!"
Yeah, shame on the employees for wanting better job conditions and admitting they actually care about own interest.
[+] [-] marcamillion|15 years ago|reply
[+] [-] jasonmcalacanis|15 years ago|reply
a) We have amazing job conditions: organic food cooked all day by our chefs, laundry service, car washing, personal trainers, unlimited monitors, killer espresso machine, developer-driven product design, etc.
b) My point is it is fine to care about your own interests--but not more than the mission and success of the company. There is no 'i' in team, and you either succeed as a team or you fail as a team.
That's the reality of startups, so the players who are concerned with their stat line are not the players you want on your team.
About 2/3rds of the Gen Y folks I meet at thinking of themselves first and the company 2nd or 3rd--if at all in some cases.The other 1/3rd are hard working, dedicated and have a sense of Giri.
[+] [-] alnayyir|15 years ago|reply
[+] [-] randall|15 years ago|reply
Jason is totally demanding and pushes everyone around him to their limits. Yes. True.
But, underneath all the bulldog, seriously the guy has a heart of gold. Sometimes he doesn't show it, and even he'd admit some level of narcissism, but from personal experience, I can fully say that working with Jason changed my career for the better in every way.
I originally worked with Jason at Weblogs, Inc., and as we were acquired by AOL, worked with him on the relaunch of Netscape. I went through a personal tragedy during the launch of the site, and Jason / the team were instrumental in me coming out of that with my wits about me.
To be clear: Jason is hard to work with. He does joust publicly, which I would attribute to his form of marketing.
I have absolutely no inside knowledge of his actual tactics, but my guess is he takes on someone who he knows people don't like, then points out their flaws over time, figuring eventually he'll come out on top since his side of the story looks so rosy by comparison. Oh, and he does this by being fairly hyperbolic. (Mainstream media, junkets in journalism, Gawker, Pay-to-play angels, SEOs, off the top of my head.)
That all aside, I think working with Jason set me up to have a wide-eyed view of startups. I treasured the experience, and while I think everyone should evaluate their personal limits carefully before embarking on a career with someone who will literally push all of them, I don't think anyone who's worked with him has regret the time they spent with Jason. That doesn't mean all of them want to work with him again... but I heartily encourage anyone who wants to be pushed to work with him. It will be a hugely rewarding experience professionally. It was for me, anyway.
[+] [-] marcamillion|15 years ago|reply
I respect him for having the balls to say what he really thinks. Not many people do. However, I don't believe that he really believes everything he says. I think he has reached the point where he realizes the pay off (lots of attention), that it becomes naturally for everything he says to come out like that.
I am sure that many people would be pushed, but you can push people (and get the most out of them) without being a tyrant.
For instance, I played the violin for many years (save the 'he is a pussy for playing the violin' comments...kthnxbi) and had several teachers. I had a mix...some that were clearly doing it for just a paycheck (not pushing me enough), others that pushed me tyranically (a la Calacanis style) that I rebelled against and didn't perform like I knew I could, and my last one that was absolutely amazing at pushing me to leaps and bounds in a much shorter time than I had ever thought I could reach. So much so, that even though I spent an aggregate of 6 or 7 years with the first 2 or 3 and only progressed let's say '2 or 3' levels, with the last, in the space of 2 years, I progressed 6 or 7 levels and actually became a teacher myself - learning those same techniques of learning how people learn and how to get the best out of each individual and pushing them to achieve their best using a mechanism that will work with them.
So I say that to say, that every manager/leader wants the best out of their people. Some take a blanket approach (like Jason seems to have done) that, in my opinion, don't work in the long-run and in aggregate...and more importantly would never work for me. Hence the reason for my blog post.
[+] [-] jasonmcalacanis|15 years ago|reply
[+] [-] mikerhoads|15 years ago|reply
Say what you will about him or his style but my experience was was a net positive and if you turn the clock back and I'd do it again.
[+] [-] jasonmcalacanis|15 years ago|reply
[+] [-] prs|15 years ago|reply
On a minor side note: Am I the only one to notice that he seems to move quite a lot with his body during the interview?
[+] [-] Clarity1992|15 years ago|reply
[+] [-] jammons|15 years ago|reply
[+] [-] jasonmcalacanis|15 years ago|reply
[+] [-] dangrossman|15 years ago|reply
[+] [-] jasonmcalacanis|15 years ago|reply
I say clearly that you can start with a good domain that might cost only $10 to $2,000 and THEN use your VC/angel money to upgrade the domain later (like delicious did, for example).
$133k on domain names is insignificant. Don't be impressed by it... CNET owns $20M in domains, AOL owns $50m in domain names and there are many individuals who own millions.
My point in listing the domains I've gotten and how much I've spent for them is that it is a) not that expensive compared to the value they provide and b) that I've got some experience in this space and you might want to listen and read what I'm saying.
Please go back and a) re-read the piece and b) don't be so obsessed with big number.
jcal
http://launch.is/blog/2010/12/3/how-to-name-your-startup-and...
[+] [-] anthonycerra|15 years ago|reply
Despite his personality flaws, which we all have, the guy gives incredible advice that is actionable. And he does it consistently.
Most popular speakers that we admire give far less valuable advice. The usefulness of "Be passionate, do less" pales in comparison to "Be consistent, plan out segments, publish on the same day at the same time".
[+] [-] marcamillion|15 years ago|reply
But he goes off on so many topics and said such crap some times, that it fully discounts all the great stuff he has said.
This is one of those things.
Besides, he doesn't just have 'personality' flaws. He seems to be such a genuine dick. Not the good type that produces insane quality stuff (a la Steve Jobs). The type that have gotten lucky, and think they are God's gift to everybody else, and are yet to keep producing. The fiasco surrounding him berating a now ex-exmployee and his falling out with Arrington and TechCrunch do nothing but confirm the prick that I think he is.
Time will tell how he fares.
If I were looking for Angel money, I would never take money from him either.
Can you imagine someone like that having leverage over you in any shape or form? Either a boss or an investor? Hell no!
[+] [-] birken|15 years ago|reply
You might not want to work for him, but you should at least respect his shtick is genius and very effective at getting coverage and links, which works nicely since his company is an SEO play.
[+] [-] jasonmcalacanis|15 years ago|reply
[+] [-] FiddlerClamp|15 years ago|reply
[+] [-] marcamillion|15 years ago|reply
Just ask Mike Tyson.
[+] [-] alain94040|15 years ago|reply
As it is, this is an attack based on a video interview. You have never even met the person and have zero first-hand knowledge.
[+] [-] maxklein|15 years ago|reply
[+] [-] marcamillion|15 years ago|reply
Show me the engineers fighting to go work for him.
I give Mahalo 3 - 5 years before shutting their doors.
Hopefully that will humble him a bit.
[+] [-] samd|15 years ago|reply
[+] [-] thirdstation|15 years ago|reply
I guess that depends on your motivation. Being your own boss is one reason to launch a startup.
But, being a boss doesn't give you the right to impose your value system on your employees.
[+] [-] ahi|15 years ago|reply
[+] [-] neworbit|15 years ago|reply
[+] [-] jasonmcalacanis|15 years ago|reply
[+] [-] WillPao|15 years ago|reply
Well, I think you missed Jason's point frankly. He said people who work for him end up going on to achieve great things, and that is true. Sean Percival, for instance, worked at Mahalo two years ago, and now he's the VP of Online Marketing at MySpace. A huge jump in two years (Percival was not a well-known figure when he started at Mahalo). It seems that many people can use Jason as a springboard. He is a great connection to have, and if you own stock, you can probably make a lot of money. (Mahalo will be sold to Demand Media in 2011, so yes, the product is "great," as in, it will have a solid exit, which is the point).
Different people respond better to different leadership styles. Some people could not stand playing for Bobby Knight. Others liked his "I'm going to challenge you until you break" style. It's really a matter of personal preference.
[+] [-] SudarshanP|15 years ago|reply
But all this has a good side for the entrepreneur... If Arrington and Jason keep fighting each other the entrepreneur benefits coz no single superpower rules tech media. They will both need to treat the entrepreneur with more respect than if they could "collude with each other" ;-).
Jason is notorious enough in the HN circles that if you choose to work for him after hearing all you have heard, you are either an idiot or a genius. Do the math of creating ur startup v/s joining him as an employee and if the math doesn't work out, don't bother to apply :-).
I remember reading a pg essay that each successive employee brings in less and less value... something like 1:1/4:1/9:...1/n^2
that is not hours of work but value. As the nth employee if you do not get what u deserve, for creating 1/n^2 of the value, just move on, else stay back.
I hope someone creates a startup that computes a desirability of working with various startups, angel investors and the like. Something like seatgeek with parameters like how handsomely the employees are rewarded, how tolerable the workplace is and so on. I guess there is a smooth curve from being the first employee to being the millionth. Each person can choose his own sweet spot.
[+] [-] dasil003|15 years ago|reply
[+] [-] strlen|15 years ago|reply
It's true that employees in a startup should be flexible: being willing to work late some days, work from home in an emergency, travel with a laptop (in return, startups are also more flexible: no one cares that you're not in your desk at 0930 or if you're working from home or a cafe).
However, eighty hour weeks usually happen for very specific reasons and are followed by less intense periods: it's not a generally applicable way of doing more with less. If you want to do more with less, hire better people (who frequently have other options available to them and won't work on a team that demands eight hour weeks as a matter of routine).
[+] [-] marcamillion|15 years ago|reply
So he thinks he is creating the next Google.
God help us if he is not wrong.
[+] [-] jammons|15 years ago|reply
For the most part, working with him has been a pleasant experience. He can flip out from time to time, often there's a good reason, sometimes not. He's not much more crazy than any other boss I've ever had, and his contributions to Mahalo far outweigh any of this.
On the plus side, we get sweet perks, our internal culture is awesome (because we don't get slackers on the team), and we're doing some very cool stuff on the technical side of things. (Expect to see more of that in the future, and if you're ever in LA, stop by the ScaleLA or LA Django meetups we host.)
That said, I'm a little dismayed that hacker news spends so much time gossiping about Jason. Get over it guys. If you don't want to work for him, don't. If you do, send over a resume.
[+] [-] ddodge|15 years ago|reply
Darren works 6 or 7 days a week because he loves what he is doing, and is learning a ton from Jason. Yes, he is tough and has high expectations. But, Jason is the best mentor and teacher around.
Jason isn't for everyone, but if you want to rise to the top really fast...a ride with Jason will get you there.
[+] [-] p206|15 years ago|reply
[+] [-] marcamillion|15 years ago|reply
I wouldn't work for him. I wouldn't want him investing in my company. I would never partner with him.
There is no business relationship, that I can think of, that I would do with him.
But that's just my preference :)
[+] [-] jasonmcalacanis|15 years ago|reply
[+] [-] daimyoyo|15 years ago|reply
[+] [-] jasonmcalacanis|15 years ago|reply
[+] [-] btipling|15 years ago|reply
Some of the words he uses like 'lame' and 'weak' kind of is dickish, but I don't think it's that crazy.
[+] [-] uurayan|15 years ago|reply
In a startup, which his companies are, there really is no room for people want normal jobs and want to work normal hours. Startup life is a very fast paced constant swim upstream. You're trying to cram years worth of work into months to create enormous value as quickly as possible. ALL startups want "rockstar" employees as they help this process exponentially. What he's stating is not really anything different than any other start up founder would say he/she wants, its just he says it in a very inflammatory way.
[+] [-] marcamillion|15 years ago|reply
I actually have worked for one startup before and am doing my own right now.
I know about long nights, tight deadlines, and no money.
I know about creativity due to constraints and responding quickly.
I also know about abusive bosses and unproductive labor practices.
I would be hard pressed to find ANY software developer that agrees that they perform best under a boss like Jason.
[+] [-] iamgoat|15 years ago|reply
[+] [-] plnewman|15 years ago|reply
Sounds like he actually is knocking him.
[+] [-] dshankar|15 years ago|reply
Nevertheless, I do agree with his "I want to surround myself with people who can work at my pace, work 80 hours a week not caring about life balance." Maybe not at a large company, but at an early stage startup I WANT people around me who are working hard and determined to make their product successful because they care about it.
What's so bad about what Calacanis said? 70-80 hour weeks are not unheard of in the startup world...
[+] [-] hugh3|15 years ago|reply
I don't get the impression that he's offering that much extra value to his employees.
[+] [-] jasonmcalacanis|15 years ago|reply