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Hiring a FAANG engineer won’t miraculously save your startup

Y Combinator
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  • Early-stage founders frequently waste capital on hiring personnel from high-growth tech giants (e.g., Google) expecting similar output.
  • This hiring pattern is driven by a salary and equity expectation gap, where candidates require compensation packages nearing $1 million annually (salary + equity) based on their former employer's standards.
  • Executing this strategy is identified as a fundamental mistake that depletes limited startup resources.
  • The behavior is termed "Sebastianism," a reference to the Portuguese myth wherein King Sebastian is believed to return after being lost in battle centuries prior to save the nation.
  • This concept characterizes the founder's irrational expectation that a single "star" hire will solve all organizational problems, mirroring the messianic hope embedded in the myth.