I really enjoyed the post too. The older I get, the more I feel I can learn from a kid. Usually we over-complicate things, and kids can remind us how simple happiness can do. Stop over-think, and do the things we enjoy!! :)

Hi Josh, so glad you liked it! Exactly, I felt I was on a path to overcomplicate thinking the older I get, while it works much better completely the other way round - thinking less and simplifying the holder we get! :)

Thanks for the great comments.

Yes, we are planning to work with him on a contract basis. It would be the best for both of us.

We have learned a lot from our users, and know what problems we need to solve now. We are working on the most important bit of the conversion funnel maximisation, and we think some UX input could help us to do that better, quicker, and more efficient.

Yes, we would like to get him couple days a week as a contractor to start-up. If we work together well, we would be more than happy to make the relationship even closer.

His rate is fairly high to us, but I know he is happy to discount the rate for us. I really appreciate it. A lot of people discount their rate working for us as well. I just feel a lot of appreciation of that, and hope I could pay them the rate they deserve (or other type of compensation) very very soon.

Thanks for your in-depth feedback.

I totally agreed that it would not be fair to ask other people to take as much risk as founders. It is all about structure it and get the balance.

Yes, we are not getting him full time. He is going to have another job in parallel. Hopefully, we could work with him 1-2 days a week to start with, and compensate his highly discounted rate the other way.

Thanks, great comments on the UX.

That is something we definitely want to work out. I understand that it could actually get time-wasters if you do not put the payment at the front. But, on the other hand, if you put a payment right at the beginning, it causes friction.

We are just experiment to find the best approach for both experts and clients.

I do like your "how do I do X" + 30sec answer idea. Thanks a lot

Thanks a lot for your great comments.

yes, that is definitely an issue. In many cases,I think some people need to worry about their rent, monthly expense, or mortgage (personal burn-rate) to worry about. If you are in your early twenty, your personal burn-rate would be much lower than in your late thirty.

Shares/options are great for motivating the team. They are bonus. But, we all need to at least cover our personal bur-rate to live.

I feel, as a founder, at least I should not let my devoting team members worry about that.

thanks, good information!!

Thanks Michael. Great comments.

I will definitely stay in the game for sure. :) I know it is important to motivate people. But, to the people who work so hard for your vision, I think founders need to take care of those hard-working employees. I feel frustrated because I wish I could offer what they deserve.

I think, start-ups need strong team with good talents. We are fighting with big companies and well paid jobs. If we just wanna take people who are willing to take high risk to join the start-ups, we are gonna miss out a lot of great talents.

Start-ups are fun, and we can attract great talent. But, we all need to pay rent and survive. I am just hoping that we could find a balance, pay the talents a fair salary, and enjoy the fun start-up ride together.

Josh :)

I think you make a fair point. Yes, that is true. It is a high-risk investment for other employees, and different people can take different level of risks.

It would not be fair to ask a late thirty person to take the same risk as a early twenty person. People have different financial concerns in different stage of lives.

I think a good founder need to consider that. It is just not right to ask everyone takes the same risk as the founders do.

Don't forget that when you eventually go under (or in your case if) some employees will usually stay on past the time when you can actually pay them. It is very hard to fire them because you will cling to the hope you can still make it.

In Austria there is luckily an employee compensation fund for insolvencies that pays out 3 months wages as long as employees claim the money in time. If you don't have that you will (might) be in for an even tougher decision.

Disclaimer: I don't claim your startup will fail with certainty but statistically that is what you are in for, so better think about what you want to do ex ante.

I liked what you said. Yes, I want him to focus on UX 110%, and not worry too much on the money. But, the fair rate to him is too high to us. That is the struggle. I am sure we will find a fee we are both fine with. But, I just wish that I could pay him, or anyone in the team, the rate reflecting their value. That is it. :)

Find someone that may not be quite that good, but is ambitious and still learning, then help him grow into what you need.

Yes, I think it is about the balance as well. A rising star needs to be able to product decent work already, and keen to learn more to become that super-star.

We had experience getting a young graduate, and it turned out that it took a lot of time to teach him some basic things. It did not work out at out at the end.

I have to go with Bill here. A mistake I see often repeated by the inexperienced is that they think they need a designer on staff that will produce work for everything from branding and business cards to social media and UX development. You don't need to hire a seasoned UX pro and I give you this advice from the perspective of a seasoned UX pro.

You need branding and some design work done for your business needs and your application: hire an agency or a self-contained talented designer. They're out there, they may be expensive in the short-term, but if they create a well-documented, solid style guide, it will pay off in the future. After the contract is up and the work has been delivered, part ways and maybe continue to employ them sparingly as needed, but there's no reason to keep them on. What are they going to do when you run out of tasks for them? They'll leave.

The person you do need to hire is young, energetic developer who can build UX and is eager to learn. That means they can take a PS comp and a style guide and build the apps you need in HTML, CSS and Javascript with extensible production-level code. Want to know who to hire? Have them submit their github, stackexchange and rss feeds. Measure progress and ability levels and set their salary expectations accordingly. Most developers who are eager to learn will jump at the opportunity to work on a project that may teach them new skills. Just keep the work interesting enough and they'll be good to go.

Your UX prospect has design talent and can code? Then your screwed. There's so much work out there right now that if it comes down to salary, they can walk out at any minute.