Paffenholz: Do Not Waste Effort Pitching Candidates Seeking Big Tech Stability
David Paffenholz · The Startup Playbook for Hiring Your First Engineers and AEs · Y Combinator · Nov 7, 2025 · at 38:45
Juicebox CEO David Paffenholz discusses recruiting and closing strategies for early-stage startup founders on the Y Combinator Startup Podcast.
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“And you might get signals early on that they really want to be in big tech, and that can be really hard to convince them otherwise, especially if it's like, say, comp package related or stability of job related. It's probably not worth fighting that battle because they are likely going to end up going that direction.”
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“Are they also interviewing with a big tech company? If so, that might indicate that they're not quite sure in which direction they want to go yet, and we'll have to circle back to selling on why should they be joining a startup in the first place.”