OK, so here is the deal.
In late March, a friend of mine pinged me and asked me if I'd be interested in talking with another of her friends who is a partner in a startup that was looking to get venture capital and bring on some more people beyond the two principals who were currently doing all the work. I was, and I met with the guy, and we had a nice chat about his company, what they were trying to do, how I might fit into that, and how they didn't have any money to hire anybody until they got some funding.
I kept in touch for a few months, while continuing to pursue other job openings, but you know, that gets depressing and I'm looking for a very specific kind of opportunity that is apparently in very short supply.
So when we got back from London, I dropped the startup guy a line and said, "What if I come to work for you now and you pay me if and when you get funding?" (That was, obviously, the "job offer" I teased about a couple of weeks ago.) That way, they get help right away and start the learning curve for their new employee earlier, and I get a real project to work on and I can stop looking for a freaking job, which is maybe the thing I've ever done in my life that I hate the most. Everybody wins.
Long story short, they liked the idea in principle, but there are apparently issues with deferred compensation, and wanted to know if I'd be open to some other structuring of the deal. No problem for me, I have an obligation to myself and my family to not work for free, but I am largely indifferent to how that compensation actually happens. (I am extremely fortunate that our financial situation is such that I can even make an offer like this.)
Today, I met with both principals and, after an update on the status of financing and a couple of technical-interview-type questions (they had me navigating a binary search tree, which I apparently did OK with), they hit me with their counterproposal. They want to engage me as an independent contractor and have me port their iPhone app to Android. They'll pay a lump sum for the work, and when they get their funding, the idea is they'll bring me on as an actual employee.
Works for me; I know the tax situation as an IC can be weird, but thanks to M.'s stock options, we already have a good CPA, and I am sure he can get me through that. So I accepted the offer, and now I am employed (once we sign the contract and NDA).
Of course, I've never done mobile development at all, let alone for Android. So I'm hoping the work they've already done porting from WinPhone to iPhone is relevant and helpful, and I'll be ramping up hard on the Android UI.
I have taken a LARGE bite here; I hope I can chew it. :) But even if I crash and burn, I'll have developed (see what I did there?) a new skillset and my resume won't show the extended idle time it's currently racking up.
On a side note, the names of the principals are Steve and Tyler, so I was vastly amused to get back out to my car after meeting with them to find Aerosmith playing on the radio, and if you don't know why that's funny, I don't know why we are even friends, it's like I don't even know you anymore.
This entry was originally posted at http://georgmi.dreamwidth.org/231596.html; please feel free to comment below or at Dreamwidth.
I kept in touch for a few months, while continuing to pursue other job openings, but you know, that gets depressing and I'm looking for a very specific kind of opportunity that is apparently in very short supply.
So when we got back from London, I dropped the startup guy a line and said, "What if I come to work for you now and you pay me if and when you get funding?" (That was, obviously, the "job offer" I teased about a couple of weeks ago.) That way, they get help right away and start the learning curve for their new employee earlier, and I get a real project to work on and I can stop looking for a freaking job, which is maybe the thing I've ever done in my life that I hate the most. Everybody wins.
Long story short, they liked the idea in principle, but there are apparently issues with deferred compensation, and wanted to know if I'd be open to some other structuring of the deal. No problem for me, I have an obligation to myself and my family to not work for free, but I am largely indifferent to how that compensation actually happens. (I am extremely fortunate that our financial situation is such that I can even make an offer like this.)
Today, I met with both principals and, after an update on the status of financing and a couple of technical-interview-type questions (they had me navigating a binary search tree, which I apparently did OK with), they hit me with their counterproposal. They want to engage me as an independent contractor and have me port their iPhone app to Android. They'll pay a lump sum for the work, and when they get their funding, the idea is they'll bring me on as an actual employee.
Works for me; I know the tax situation as an IC can be weird, but thanks to M.'s stock options, we already have a good CPA, and I am sure he can get me through that. So I accepted the offer, and now I am employed (once we sign the contract and NDA).
Of course, I've never done mobile development at all, let alone for Android. So I'm hoping the work they've already done porting from WinPhone to iPhone is relevant and helpful, and I'll be ramping up hard on the Android UI.
I have taken a LARGE bite here; I hope I can chew it. :) But even if I crash and burn, I'll have developed (see what I did there?) a new skillset and my resume won't show the extended idle time it's currently racking up.
On a side note, the names of the principals are Steve and Tyler, so I was vastly amused to get back out to my car after meeting with them to find Aerosmith playing on the radio, and if you don't know why that's funny, I don't know why we are even friends, it's like I don't even know you anymore.
This entry was originally posted at http://georgmi.dreamwidth.org/231596.html; please feel free to comment below or at Dreamwidth.