#yipit

Disgusting.

Vinicius Vacanti (@vacanti) of Yipit:

It's about the partnership, not just one partner

Have a big vision

Don't sign a term sheet unless you are certain they'll do the deal

Know your investor's target return

You might want to exclude strateics from the "no shop" provision

Your industry will not always be this hot

The reading list in the sidebar is pretty good, too:

Never Eat Alone

Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion

Getting Real

Lean Startup

Meet Zach Smith: The First employee at Yipit

Working for a start-up means taking on a lot of risk, and being the first employee means less reward. So why do it? I sat down with Zach Smith, the Vice President of Engineering and first person to join Yipit to learn more. 

Zach hasn't always been a tech geek, but while at Washington University, he took a class about Entrepreneurialism that really inspired him. Upon graduation in 2008, he took his first big risk: moving to the big apple to join the start-up scene with no engineering background and little money. He started learning code and found his first gig through Craig’s list, working for the former CTO of the start-up For Sale By Owner. After the company launched, his work was done and he stayed involved in the start-up space by taking classes, doing odd jobs and learning as much as possible. In 2010, he was connected to the CEO of Yipit, a cool site that aggregates sales into one place. Soon after, he became their first employee. They currently have 25.

Read the interview below to learn what it’s like to be the first, how the start-up scene has changed since 2008 and Zach’s advice to people hoping to break in.

 What is Yipit?

 Yipit is a place where you can find things on sale. Lot of items sell for less than it normally would and we made it easy to sift through information. We started with daily deals (groupon, living social, gilt city) and more recently, we started aggregating flash sales (One Kings Lane, fab etc).

 What motivated you to start at Yipit?

I knew the founder of Yipit personally (we played soccer together) so it was an easier decision for me.  When you are joining a company really early on, you need to believe in the founders much more than the initial vision of the company, since that will almost inevitably change.

 What was it like to be the first employee?

It was really fun to come in. The role was really broad. Although I work as an engineer, I was involved in all conversations. Now, it’s different. We have hired more people to be focused in other areas. It’s really interesting because when you work at a big company, you move up and take on more responsibility. When you start at a small company, you hire people to take responsibilities away from you.

Why do you think it’s beneficial to be a first employee versus a founder?

I read an article by Mark Suster that said “Is it Time for You to Earn or to Learn?” The chances are you aren’t going to make a ton of money being a first employee. However, if your goal in life is to get rich, working at a start-up isn’t necessarily the best way to do this anyway.

If your goal is to one day start your own company, working for a startup will give you the preparation to do so.

How has the start-up scene changed in NYC since you started in 2008?

There is so much more out there. Back then, there weren’t very many meet ups and the stuff happening with co-working spaces has been really great. Overall, the presence has just been expanding, Google bought an entire city block and twitter and Facebook have opened up engineering offices.

Why do you think start-up world is rewarding?

It’s really awesome to be able to make a huge impact on the company. My friends that work at larger companies are taking orders down the chain. They are not able to call the shots and at a start-up, you are able to do that more quickly. Also, the people I work with are creative, ambitious and love building things. It’s just really enjoyable.

What do you do everyday?

At Yipit, we have about 12-15 engineers now. It’s more of a fluid definition in that everyone that works on the product team is an engineer. We do a lot of stuff from building the user base, testing new ideas, writing code, confirming our processes are in place and making sure our systems are reliable. I work with a lot of the younger engineers, and try to teach them as much as I can.

What is your best advice to people hoping to break into the start-up world?

Learn code. I know that sounds really cliché right bow, but even if you don’t want to be an engineer, if you are code literate, you can provide value. Even if you want to work in marketing, knowing how to do html can help you build an e-mail blast. Also, if you learn the skill it shows that you are willing to improve yourself. In the same vein, it shows you have a willingness to work hard and the ability to get stuff done. Create some sort of value and get it out there. Make a web application or suggest ways a company can improve.  At start-ups, we can’t take risks on who we hire. 

Most challenging think about working for a start-up?

Getting into the mindset of getting things done as quickly as possible rather than as precise or as perfect as possible. You can’t get married to ideas because a lot of them won’t work. You have to understand tradeoffs. You need to have the flexibility to pitch in wherever things can get done. Sometimes you don’t do the most glamorous work, and at a large company, you may have the support so you don’t have to do those things. You need to be really self motivated.

What is your favorite place in NYC?

Vin Vacanti, CEO of Yipit, just published a blog post in which he details how and why every Yipit employee is learning to code. He argues that even non-developers at tech companies are more productive if they can prototype or at least speak the language of tech. He describes their actual process for teaching employees: they mix content, projects, and mentorship to get employees to the right level as efficiently as possible.