I recently received the following message via LinkedIn:
Dear Stan, We are a young silicon-valley-like startup …
… developing disruptive products for sensing, cognition and communication for the Internet of Things (IoT) market;
… fully funded with an exclusive Fortune 200 customer already secured;
… who is working closely with us to specify the product and take it to market;
… led by a top-notch team of seasoned start-up engineers and executives with successful prior startup exits to multi-national corporations; and
… all right here in Austin.We are currently looking for a top-notch automation expert and looking at your resume and background I thought you might be a good fit. I hope you are interested in hearing more and would be glad to discuss this opportunity further via a call or f2f meeting. Thanks, [name redacted]
I was really curious to know what he meant by ‘silicon-valley-like,’ so I answered:
What does ‘silicon-valley-like’ denote? That could mean a lot of different things–both positive and negative.
His response:
Good point re: the silicon-valley reference – esp. being a long-time Austinite (by choice) I can understand why it could be considered negative! I was referring to the fact that we have an exciting mission in a hot industry area that can have a big impact with a top-notch team to work with. And the particular role I’d like to go over has some very interesting challenges – for example capturing, storing, analyzing, labeling and retrieving very large data sets.
And my answer again:
I’m pretty sure that “an exciting mission in a hot industry area that can have a big impact with a top-notch team to work with” isn’t a characteristic unique to the Bay Area. I understand that you probably can’t reveal many details, but the quote above doesn’t tell me anything more than “silicon-valley-like” So far, you’ve basically told me nothing at all about the opportunity.
If this ‘silicon-valley-like’ startup hired this guy to do their recruiting, I can only come to one of two conclusions:
- He doesn’t know the business well enough to give meaningful details, or
- He doesn’t understand recruiting well enough to get to a candidate’s concerns quickly and answer them.
Based on what I saw on LinkedIn (LI only let me see this guy’s name and title), however, I suspect that he is one of the founders or early employees. If that’s the case, then possible explanations above for his behavior incline me even less to treat his offer seriously. Do I want to work in a company where this person has a leading role? Hell no.