zakdances

Ask HN: If YouTube was founded in 2012 instead of 2005, how would it differ?

Posted by zakdances on Friday November 16, 2012 @11:04PM
from the ask-hn dept.

YouTube has always been notorious as a business for how expensive it was to run the service. Streaming video is extremely bandwidth intensive. That, along with uploading and huge traffic, means that YouTube's costs have always been high, which is most likely something that factored into the decision to sell to Google.<p>I assume these issues were even worse/more expensive in 2005 when YT...

( Read More... | 5 comments | 5 points | on HN )

Re:Ask HN: I'm about to hire the 1st employee for my startup. What sho... on Tuesday October 02, 2012 @02:59PM (#4603606)

Great suggestions, I especially think the trial period idea is interesting. There's a few things that complicate it a bit though...this person will have to move to a different city to work, so the compensation will have to be higher to account for the uncertainty. Also, if it does work out, I don't want to the person to line something else up before the 6 months are out....I suppose there'll need to a "buffertime" between when a permanent job is offered and the end of the temporary phase.

Re:Ask HN: I'm about to hire the 1st employee for my startup. What sho... on Monday October 01, 2012 @08:51PM (#4600159)

If any admins are reading this, I'm not sure if this question got in the right category...its suppose to be an Ask HN question but I don't see it showing up there.

Re:Ask HN: I'm about to hire the 1st employee for my startup. What sho... on Monday October 01, 2012 @08:50PM (#4600153)

They're not a manager. The position calls for a great organizer who will help with general business administration, including the next round of hiring which will include engineers. Right now my most pressing concern is addressing my current skill shortfall, which is in finance and general administration. My engineering skills are solid and are able to keep the product shipping at the moment, but I need someone to take on general business duties. I'm aware that engineers are the heart of any tech startup, so I'm not taking this decision lightly. I'm confident this is the right position I need filled presently, but I need help putting together an job offer package and understanding the implications of all the details therein.

Ask HN: I'm about to hire the 1st employee for my startup. What should I know?

Posted by zakdances on Monday October 01, 2012 @07:18PM
from the ask-hn dept.

I'm very close to hiring a first employee for my tech startup. This potential first employee has a legal background (as an attorney) and is a friend. I want to bring this person on as an important assistant and CFO (an executive position). How should I determine salary and stock options? What dangers or common pitfalls should I be aware of? What should a job offer look like exactly (written...

( Read More... | 6 comments | 5 points | on HN )