A Job Interview

Yes, I've been enjoying listening to you and learning more about your background. Your experience is impressive, and it’s obvious that you do good work.

Thanks.What you're trying to do here interests me. I think there's a lot of potential. As I said, I'm ready to leave my present job if the opportunity is attractive enough.

Great.As I’m sure you are aware, it won’t be easy. That’s a lot of uncertainty.
We need a strong, committed team.

Sure, I understand.

As for what we can offer you.First, I want to stress again that we are a startup. The people we have working here now are on reduced salaries.

I understand. I’m willing to take less than what I’m being paid now; but I have two children, so I’ve got to consider that too.I need to at least cover our basic living expenses.

OK. We have two ways we can do this.Both of them have you starting at a reduced salary. One will give you a bonus after each round of financing. With the other, you can start with a higher salary, but the bonus will be smaller, or none at all.

What is the time frame for the financing?

That depends on a lot of things. We're hoping to get the next round of financing within 6 to 9 months. We don’t want to go to our investors too early because we want to be in a strong position. And for that, we are only to perform. For now, we have enough cash to cover us for about a year.

Okay, that makes sense. Well, I’ll talk to my wife and see what she says.

Right. You need to cover your expenses, but not enough to have savings. The less you ask for now, the greater your bonus is as you move forward.
That’s the idea.

Got it. I'll get back to you tomorrow.

Well, what do you think?

He’s impressive. I think he’s someone who can strengthen our team.

I think so too. If he can accept a low enough salary, we should hire him. That will show that he believes enough in our plan to take on the risk.

What if he asks for more than we can afford?

In that case we can see if he'll consider working on a short-term project first. That way he could keep his present job, and we could try to bring him in later. It will lower his risk.

I doubt if he would consider that, but it’s worth a try.

Yeah, let’s hope it doesn’t come to that. Whatever, we should try to avoid losing him completely.

Well, I’m optimistic. I think he will decide to join us. He’s the kind of guy who likes a challenge.

From what I could tell, we certainly won’t have to push him to get things done.

Exactly. He'll feel the pressure just like the rest of us.

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