Things I wish I knew before my first startup

Your first startup is a trap until you realize ..

1/ ESOPs are just fancy monopoly money that you will probably never see 2/ "Flat hierarchy" means you report directly to a chaotic Founder who changes his mind every 4 hours 3/ Wearing multiple hats is code for doing 3 peoples jobs for half the salary 4/ Unlimited leaves means you will feel guilty taking even a single sick day 5/ The foosball table is there so you dont leave the office at 8 PM 6/ "We are a family" means they expect you to work weekends for free 7/ Funding news is for PR. It doesn't mean your Increment is coming 8/ Process is a dirty word until something breaks, then it's suddenly your fault for not having one 9/ You will spend 40% of your time fixing things the previous guy built in a weekend 10/ The word "hustle" is literally just a guilt trip mechanism 11/ A cool office in HSR doesn't pay your rent 12/ Titles mean nothing. You can be VP of Engineering and still be fixing the wifi 14/ HR is usually just the founders best friend or college junior 15/ Pivot just means we burnt all the Cash and are trying a hail mary

Wondering where’s 13? Left it for you. Let’s see what you got.