I think having an employee that is not interested in money, is also not interested in the success of your business. Its that simple.
It might be that their interest in the code happens to coincide with your business interest right now, but you can guess what will happen when you change direction and have to throw out all the beautiful code they have been creating. Or perhaps you have to add an ugly feature for a client, or you hire somebody who writes ugly code.
Your employees need to be motivated by the same things you are, and if not, you should part ways and find better partners.
> I think having an employee that is not interested in money, is also not interested in the success of your business. Its that simple.
They are obviously far, far more interested in the business than someone who's just there for the money (most people) and that will leave as soon as someone else gives a little bit more.
Having a salary doesn't mean one is any more interested in the business – the only concern that provides is whether or not the business will be solvent to make payroll.
If you are giving founder-level stock options, then you can demand a similar level of "interest" as a founder. Anything else, it's just an exchange of money for labor. That's it.
Leaving as soon as somebody paying more money is just as likely to happen as somebody leaving because there are more interesting problems to solve elsewhere. (Or they just get bored of your business problems)
I'm not sure about stock options, but I agree that key employees should get rich when an owner gets rich.
This is a pretty grim outlook. It’s at best a false dichotomy between “code lovers” who write beautiful code and “money lovers” who write ugly code. An engineer who can adapt their output based on constraints and requirements deserves to be well compensated for that flexibility.
>An engineer who can adapt their output based on constraints and requirements deserves to be well compensated for that flexibility.
Yes, but somebody that is not motivated by money will have no incentive to adapt to the constraints and requirements. Which is what the whole thing is about.
Except perhaps if they are motivated to make the rest of the team happy I guess.
Most businesses exists to make money. I think having everybody in the room on the same page is very valuable.
It might be that their interest in the code happens to coincide with your business interest right now, but you can guess what will happen when you change direction and have to throw out all the beautiful code they have been creating. Or perhaps you have to add an ugly feature for a client, or you hire somebody who writes ugly code.
Your employees need to be motivated by the same things you are, and if not, you should part ways and find better partners.