This Just In: Start Ups don't have reserved parking

If you are thinking of working for a start up, here is a list of things you shouldn't expect.  Where did this come from? An actual person negotiating for a position in a start up.  If you are hiring people for your start up, explain it is a start up early and often to avoid a disconnect on what your company can and cannot do.

For your entertainment:

1. Benefits and Incidentals
1. Initial offer:  not discussed
2. My proposal:  executive benefits package, not simply the standard “what the other employees receive”
3. This is to acknowledge my unique contribution/role/pressure/accountability
4. Key elements of such a program:

                                                              i.   no waiting period

                                                            ii.      Higher limits on standard things covered and my control over usage of individual coverages (not each one capped at $x like for most staff)

                                                          iii.      Life insurance (with my family as beneficiary, as opposed to key-man insurance) with a limit higher than the typical multiple of salary that is used for most staff

                                                          iv.      Parking

                                                            v.      Automobile

                                                          vi.      Gym membership (this is how I’ll deal with early morning commute)

                                                        vii.      Will not seek club membership; save co $40-60k/yr off fairly typical CEO perq’s

                                                      viii.      Business membership (Industry organizations, YPO dues, etc) $5-10k/yr?

                                                          ix.      Annual medical at executive clinic.

                                                            x.      Professional development allotment to be spent in the ways of my choosing; $10k/yr?

I know, don't ask, don't get but stuff like this? Heh..

Comments

[Jeremy Wright]

Wow... I... Yeah, that's all I have to say... Wow...

[Zoli Erdos]

You've gotta love the generousity of *saving* the company $40-60K right away :-)

[Bobby]

Not sure this is completely fair without the context: What stage is this "startup"? Pre-A round? Post-C round? Is this a major turnaround situation? And how much equity is on the table? 1%? or 20%? And lastly, where is this CEO being recruited from?

For example, if the candidate is offered 2% with no carve-out in a Post-C round for a turnaround and is being recruited from a position where those benefits are in place, these are not unreasaonble at all. In fact, they're light.

On the other hand, completely inappropriate for a company that just closed $1.5M in an A round, as you suggest it would be.

[Rick Segal]

Bobby,

Thanks for stopping by I mean to imply/say start up, small revenue, you and the guys looking for talent type of company.

[Zoli Erdos]

Bobby (and everyone),

I see another issue with this demand list, which to me reveals a personality that I would not want in my startup no matter what stage of growth it is at: he seems to be more worried about differentiated, getting "not what most staff" gets than about the actual value of his perks. (Oh, and he can't spell perk...)

I can't see how someone so preoccupied with distancing himself from "staff" will lead a startup to success.

[Kelly Stewart]

Zoli, he sort of DID spell "perq" correctly. "Perq" is a shortened form of "perquisite." Although I would have spelled it out or used "perqs" without the apostrophe.

[andrew callen]

sounds like a VC

[Todd]

Pretty funny stuff.

[Alex]

Sounds like the CEO at the company I used to work for. Never met a more arrogant and self-entitled person in my life. He was also incompetent, ran the company into the ground and destroyed shareholder value for everyone except a small group of people.

[William]

Zoli, that's spot on.

A guy who wants certain benefits is fine. A guy who doesn't care what the benefits are as long as they're more than the people around him is poison.

I never mind working with somebody whose market rate is higher than mine. But I'll be damned if I'll work with people whose sense of self-worth is so fragile that they demand bullshit like this.

[Jim Hillhouse]

What a bozo. Interesting...

This is to acknowledge my unique contribution/role/pressure/accountability...yeah, you're very, very special and the only bipedal hominid that can do this job? And what's his downside if his/her unique contribution/role/pressure/accountability are just enough to tank the start-up?

vi. Gym membership (this is how I’ll deal with early morning commute)...when I was at a start-up, we dealt with early morning commute with a) coffee b)more coffee and c)...oh, get over it.

Know what he forgot to mention? Butler!

What an example of what is wrong with American management and other members of the Gilded class who are so disconnected from "normal" people that they don't know how ridiculous they are.

[Bobby]

Of course, this is all hypothetical.

But what if s/he were the EVP of Sales of a $500M/year gorilla -- who happens to be the only potential competitor in the sector? And suppose the sales pipeline for this hypothetical product/market/customer is two years?

Taking him/her out may put a major dent in the competition's ability to fast follow and brings the customer relationships to the startup.

If that were the situation, I'd add a butler and a maid -- but no severance deal, since it's hard to know in advance if those skills or relationships would be transferable.

Usually, offering a big slab of equity instead of a rich package would self-qualify the candidate, but again, we don't know the entirety of the offer.

The most important question, however, is what are the real needs of this startup in a CEO? Is it a cultural icon for the startup environment? Or a cultural match with those customers the startup needs to succeed quickly?

[hugh macleod]

Dotcom, eat your heart out...

[Tim Dick]

Ego aside, this candidate can't have much C-level experience if he doesn't know that key man insurance benefits the COMPANY and Life Insurance benefits the EMPLOYEE...

Whoops, your credibility is showing!

Tim

[Burbed]

What? He didn't ask for a free house in Cupertino?

[Jeff Barr]

I love the "will not" part. What about:

* Will not require company jet; just fly me around first class (save co. $2M/year in lease, staffing, and maintenance costs).
* Will not require vacation home disguised as offsite retreat (save co. $1M/year).

As several others have noted, this person's propensity to differentiate himself from the rest of the staff is one of the more troublesome aspects of the proposal.

[Thomas]

Wow. If there are people asking for this type of package, I am so undercompensated....