For some reason, I seem to be one of the few folks who feel that his suggestions capture a sense of wisdom about running startups. Most of the words put forth in response seem to have been resoundingly negative. What were some of his suggestions?
* Buy second monitors for everyone, they will save at least 30 minutes a day, which is 100 hours a year... which is at least $2,000 a year.... which is $6,000 over three years. A second monitor cost $300-500 depending on which one you get. That means you're getting 10-20x return on your investment... and you've got a happy team member.
* Rent out your extra space. Many folks have extra space in their office. If you rent 5-10 desks for $500 each you can cut your burn $2,500 to $5,000 a month, or $30-60,000 a year. That's big money.
* Use Google hosted email. $50 or free per user.... how can you beat that?!?! Why screw with an exchange server!?!?
* Buy cheap tables and expensive chairs. Tables are a complete rip off. We buy stainless steel restaurant tables that are $100 and $600 Areon chairs. Total cost per workstation? $700. Compare that to buying a $500-$1,500 cube/designer workstation. The chair is the only thing that matters... invest in it.
There are fourteen other suggestions on the list, but the one that seems to have gotten everyone up in arms is this one:
* Fire people who are not workaholics.... come on folks, this is startup life, it's not a game. go work at the post office or stabucks if you want balance in your life. For realz.
I Can't Agree More
"How do you treat your staff? Like 37signals, or like this prick?" was the question posed by Stilgherrian of Skank Media. Sean Coon of DotMatrixProject set up Jason to look like a hypocrite by taking a defense of Mahalo employees by Jason earlier as 'real people' with lives and contrasting that with his description of the perfect employee as a workaholic, presumably without a life. Tech Confidential came up with a number of additions that they felt were in the spirit of Jason's original list, including "When interviewing potential new-hires, ask if they insist on being paid--if so, don't hire them; alternatively, hire them, but when pay-day arrives tell them "the check is in the mail."
Here's the thing, though: I know that most of us tech folks have a certain sympathy for the underdog (and who is more of an underdog than a slacker?).
As someone who has been a workaholic since entering the workforce, I feel I must speak up. A lot of negative things are being said about workaholics, and about how we have a tendency to burn out and are deeply psychologically scarred so as to have such an unhealthy relationship with what we do for money.
It's all hogwash, though. I'm not a workaholic because I wasn't hugged enough as a kid, or that the rest of my life sucks so badly. I'm a workaholic because I love and am passionate about what I do. It is as simple as that.
Perhaps Calacanis' choice of words wasn't exactly the best, but isn't it generally a good policy to hire those that are passionate about the work enough that they'll put in extra time? That's more or less what Google's policy has been - make work so attractive that they'll stay so far past overtime they'll forget what life was like before they worked there. Working on what you love and making things happen can be the most gratifying and fulfilling thing to fill up your time with.
And It Is A Game...
But the startup world is a game, like Jason says. A game has risk and is based usually on a level of skill, much like the work world. Folks that play to win should be (and usually are) rewarded, and startups that play to win should seek out the players who are willing to give 110% (to borrow from the sports saying).
Being a workaholic isn't for everyone - and I admit that I'm less of one than I used to be, now. When I was single, mobile, and adventurous, I would chase down all manner of interesting opportunity, no matter how many thousands of miles I was forced to relocate. I'd work upwards of 14 hours a day, if I felt there would be a reward in it.
Now a days, with two kids and a wife, I have to scale that back a little bit. I still work more than ten hours a day on my various projects and here at Mashable. I still strive to get ahead however I should, and put that much time in it because I particularly love what I do.
It's Called 'Convenience Enthusiasm', Thank You Very Much...
I don't begrudge the slackers (or folks with a life) their positions in their startups. I would urge them, however, if they really think they're in the right line of work if they don't feel compelled to work extra hours to get that really cool bit of code written or to chase a story or interview down. As I was finishing up this story, Jason put out a follow-up blog post to the original list defending his position:
My philosophy of building companies is not that I "fire people who have a life," it's that "I don't work with folks who don't love their work." If you're not into it and I fire you than I've actually done you a HUGE favor in my mind. So, perhaps we should change the headline to "Calacanis fires folks who don't love their work.
Meanwhile, I have to float this one out there in response to all the Jason hating going on this evening: perhaps the slackers doth protest too much?
In other words, if you're the type of fellow who thinks they need a clearly defined line between what you do at work and what you do at home, and no overlap or overages on either side of that dividing line, perhaps a nine-to-five at a more established organization is for you.
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