At my company we have a great selection of healthcare that's fairly affordable both for employees and the company. I think it's as good or better than any packages I've seen from big brand-name enterprises. However, as a European founder, I was shocked by the complexity and effort that went into the comparison shopping necessary to get anything other than expensive, poor coverage. The quality of what's out there from JustWorks, Gusto, Zenefits et al was frankly shocking - and they are feted as "making it all easy and affordable". (We use Trinet which although in many ways antediluvian has very, very good health options at least for NY).
It's a barrier to anyone with nearly any disability, chronic illness, or precondition (or with family members who may have them).
A friend's wife has to take medication that is classed as Tier 4 in California (least coverage). He has had to turn down many offers as he would then have to put the family on their own insurance, potentially costing upwards of $1200/mo. just for the one set of medications. As is, the meds are <$10/mo. on the insurance via their current employer.
US Healthcare is a giant hurdle for small businesses. We need UHC in the US.
Be careful about those who offer you emotional fulfillment or purpose in your job. There’s always a cost.
Having startups be more remote-friendly by default would be a huge boon for everyone involved.
One of the risks of remote work is the next opportunity. What happens if you land a great remote job, move your family across the country, and then realize the new job/boss/company is not a great fit? Right now, it can be a challenge to find a comparable position offering full time remote flexibility. But if all startups offered full time remote, then the network effect occurs, leading more candidates to want this option and opening up a larger pool of qualified applicants for startup companies to work with.
If YC could facilitate this industry trend, you could be helping startups with talent acquisition, helping workers establish better lives in lower cost locales, helping to spread tech talent and opportunities around the country, and helping the Bay Area (and other highly impacted tech hubs) ease some of the housing and transportation issues. If this is a successful startup trend, I guarantee the big tech companies will follow.
While hiring remote makes sense for startups, working for a startup might not be the best option for remote workers.
Plenty of money floating around. Find another remote friendly guy and go to town!
Seems how most remote friendly places have started...
Not to say you get fired, but you miss too much. You miss watercooler talk. You miss the invite to a new project. You get sent maintenance and bug work.
If you want to work a 9-3 and coast, sure. If you want to do cool stuff and move up the chain? Being remote in a local company is totally suicide.
I’ll admit I would not choose to join one if they were to force me to live in SF and not give me a competitive salary.
Startups are really good at providing two things - a sense of being able to affect change and working on something novel/new (assuming you actually go with a startup that does something new)
Unless you are a founder, go with the money.
Better Estimated Value.
Unless you’re a founder, I actively steer colleagues away from working at a startup. The sense of accomplishment, impact, or whatever the feel good term is, isn’t worth shorting yourself on significant comp for years (while founders and funds are getting almost all the upside).
Edit: If you want to compete, pay more and provide more equity with less risk. Throw “hire fast, fire fast” out the door; anyone who isn’t single and in their 20s can’t rely on a job like that. Maybe consider giving preferred shares to early employees as well, so they share in early liquidity events during pre-IPO/acquisition offerings.