Homejoy: Another Silicon Valley Tech Startup Cult

This job ad, posted on HN on Christmas eve, is one of the most depressing job ads I’ve ever read https://t.co/gQfciKjzu7

— Dan Nguyen (@dancow) December 25, 2014

It is. It really truly is.
On Christmas Eve around 5 pm San Francisco time, Adora posted the this piece looking for future employees.

1. i can’t be 100% sure but i think people choose to work here because they believe homejoy is not just another cool startup; it’s a mission; it’s a passion. we’re building things that enable and will change the way people live and work. this is not an overnight venture; we know it’ll take a long time, and we’re all committed to it.

   First: they work there because a) they are (presumably) paid, and b) they believed that your offer was less odious than the other choices they had at the time. It’s not a mission, it’s a company. For your employees, the expected added benefits exceed the expected added costs. And bay area engineers will put up with massive crap if they think they might get rich. Even when the actual outcome is a million-to-one reverse split on the stock.
   Homejoy’s business model is to find cleaning services. They’ve had three rounds of funding comprising about forty million dollars. I don’t want to be in any way disrespectful to the industry, but they’re entering a market segment with several other established competitors.
   It’s just an educated guess, but I’d guess that they’re not generating venture outcomes.

2. Words of Wisdom from Mackieman:

   Being die-hard loyal to a company is like being in an intimate relationship with a brick. The brick cares nothing for you. Do not love the brick; the brick will only cause you pain when it forgets about you. The brick serves only its interests and nothing else is of consequence.
   The brick does not love you.

   He’s right. When push comes to shove, everyone’s expendable, even founders and CEOs. I’ve seen it happen. Organizations value themselves more than the people that make up the company. Growth is expensive, and that’s when control gets dodgy.
   But you’re probably feeling that brick-like pressure from those venture rounds, aren’t you?

3. “so it’s xmas eve and i’m in the office with several other folks who didn’t have plans for xmas either.”
   It’s all about the poor me, isn’t it? Except in this case, you’re the one doling it out, ensuring those other people couldn’t have plans. Look, you and your brother founded the place and head it up. If you don’t have plans for Christmas, who’s fault is that, exactly?
4. “don’t get me wrong, many other homejoy folks are back home celebrating a proper xmas with family as they should definitely do!”
   ::rolls eyes::
   So “they should” celebrate a “proper xmas”? Now it’s sounding like you’re insulting both groups.
5. Never, ever, get a job interview with a company that uses private domain registration.

Look, a job ad would have been fine posted at 9:01 am on January 5th.
On Christmas Eve, it’s just pathetic.
The company’s about cleaning services. It’s not about the timing of some rocket launch that has a narrow window or you’ll miss it until the next time the comet comes around on the guitar.
Remember: When you raise venture, you narrow your options. Rachel explains:

The purpose of life is not to raise venture capital. Not raising venture capital doesn’t make you a failure. And the purpose of venture capital is not to reward the clever or the good. It’s to (say it with me!) redeploy resources from a lower- to a higher-performing asset class.

Working in a Tech Startup isn’t a mission. It’s about being part of a higher-performing asset class no matter what else that costs you. Whether that “you” is a CEO or the engineer the CEO’s looking to hire.

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