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Clarity

Jonathan Tsai

San Francisco, CA

Engineering Manager at EasyPost. Previously Engineering Lead at Iterable; co-founder/CTO/advisor at ZippyApp; angel investor. Full-stack software ninja polyglot, programming since I was 11. Alumni of Yahoo! Sports, Ask.com R&D, Intuit, UC Berkeley, etc. Multiple startup failures and many lessons learned.

$2.50/min

14 Calls

5 Reviews

29 minutes
Avg. call

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Software Startup Technology Scalable Architecture and Team

As a seasoned full-stack software engineer and CTO, I've scaled websites for millions of CONCURRENT users and have built dozens of systems from the ground up.

I can help you evaluate the viability of a technology choice, platform, or people before you invest any time or money into it.

Early Stage Technology Hiring for Business Founders

You are a business person with a validated idea and you want to hire a technology team to build a prototype or MVP to give your idea some legs. You don't know anyone in your immediate network who is able to join your idea. How do you know what to look for? What kinds of skillsets and traits should this person have?

Identifying, Attracting, and Retaining Top Technology Talent

How to identify the winners and bring them into your team.

Coaching Software Engineers to Become World-Class Performers

I've taught programming languages to hundreds of undergrads at UC Berkeley, and have mentored dozens of software engineers through my career.

Taking the fundamentals of computer science and combining it with solid engineering principles, I've built many products from end-to-end, used by millions of users, and can help you do the same.

Answers 1
Reviews 5

Answers

Jonathan Tsai answered

I'm looking to bring my part time remote developer in house full time. How do I motivate and incentivize him without giving away equity?

You already said it: "He isn't interested in salary as much as equity."

If this developer is any bit worth his salt, he is worth the equity. A smaller piece of a bigger pie is far more valuable than a big piece of a small (or worthless) pie.

Profit sharing is a red flag to me that just sounds "Cheap," unless you guys are making tons and tons of profit already.

I don't know where you're based, but In Silicon Valley, a good developer can easily fetch $300-500k (base + bonus + yearly equity). UC Berkeley's average starting salary for NCGs majoring in EECS or Computer Science is $108k.

Salary is something a good developer can easily get; why your startup (possibly unstable) rather than another more established company?

If as the other person said, he walks and you're company is crippled, give him equity.

Happy to chat more.

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Reviews

Very knowledgeable and understanding of the entrepreneurial journey as well as tech.

Kevin Clark Source: Clarity

Jonathan is a very resourceful and insightful mentor. He has helped me to point out few possible opportunities on my career path that I did not realize before

Ti Guo Source: Clarity

I appreciate his expertise in Java and PHO.

Mark Waring Source: Clarity

Excellent chat, some good insights on managing developers and development work in general

Daniel Faggella Source: Clarity

An amazing resource, very knowledgeable in the development space. Was lucky to get some of Jonathan's time. I will most likely purchase more as I need more advice.

Erik Lefko Source: Clarity

Member since August 2014