Problem
- How can I take a two-week vacation from TinyPilot?
Obstacle #1: Order fulfillment
- All TinyPilot stock is in my house
- My girlfriend is the fulfillment manager
- She prints shipping labels, packs outgoing orders, schedules pickups
Obstacle #2: Stock replenishment
- Two weeks can clear us out
- A spike in sales can (and has) exhausted our inventory within two weeks
- My girlfriend and I share responsibilities in reordering parts
Obstacle #3: Low bus factor
- My girlfriend returns to grad school in June
- Her availability shrinks to 5 hours per week
- She currently works between 6 and 25 hours per week
Obstacle #4: Customer support
- TinyPilot receives one to six customer support requests per day
- I’m the only one who manages customer support
Notable things about the job
- Pay is $16/hr
- Higher than other jobs in the area that require no degree
- e.g., Subway pays cashiers $13-15/hr
Notable things about the job
- Emphasis on non-monetary benefits
- Flexible hours
- Work with a growing “tech startup”
Sharing on Facebook
Sharing on Craigslist
Sharing Results
Channel |
Applications |
Interviews |
Hires |
Personal connections |
0 |
0 |
0 |
Local facebook groups |
5 |
2 |
1 |
Craigslist |
6 |
1 |
1 |
Application process
- Didn’t follow instructions: archive email, no response
- Filtered most candidates at this stage
- Not a good match on paper: Email response
- Strong candidate: Offer interview
- Good interview: Offer job
New employee training: start small
- Assemble power connectors
- Do functional testing of power connectors
- Assemble Voyagers
- Do functional testing of Voyagers
New employee training gotchas
- Hard to create training manuals!
- Took 5-8 hours of writing per task
Hiring “real” employees
- Before this, I’d always hired contractors
- This role doesn’t match IRS definition of contractor
- Need to do tax withholding, provide legal notices, etc.
PEO Solutions
- Professional Employer Organization
- Do payroll, tax withholding, legal compliance
- Got a few recommendations:
JustWorks as a PEO
- JustWorks is okay so far
- They keep asking me the same questions over and over
- Keep trying to upsell me different services
- They hide the fact that it takes 2 weeks to activate your account
Office space
Office space
- 15-minute walk from my house
- $550/month
- Includes furniture and utilities
Leasing process
- Only received a paper copy to sign
- Asked a lawyer to review a week ago
- Still waiting for results
The office timeline
- Move processes in phases from my house to the office
- Product assembly
- Functional testing
- Pre-packing
- Fulfillment