I'm running a small startup (three technical founders, no employees), focusing on building a single cell genomics platform used by scientists in cancer and heart disease research. We are entirely bootstrapped (we didn't take any angel or seed investment), so we aren't exactly swimming in cash. But recently we've landed a big contract and we are ready to hire (a very much needed) employee #1.
Stack Overflow Jobs seemed like a great place to start searching. So I've eagerly created an account and was booked on a call with a sales rep. Unfortunately, the cheapest plan that we could be offered was 2500 GBP (~3100 USD) – and that's already the "start-up deal". I digged around a bit – small startup founders already complained about the hefty price tag 3 years ago. But back then you could pay ~400 GBP (495 USD) for a monthly ad (which would actually be good enough value for us). The situation is now 6 times worse, and even in the follow-up discussion, after the sales rep checked with the management, 2500 GBP was the cheapest deal SO Jobs could offer.
This comes as a little bit of a shock to me, speaking as somebody who helped over the years to make SO a better place, initially by asking and recently mostly answering many technical questions. I understand that medium-large tech companies are well capitalised, need the talent just as much as everybody else and can afford to put a lot of resource towards their hiring. For a small startup it's hard enough to scrap up a competitive salary, sweetened by an opportunity to have a large impact working on an important world-changing problem. With such a high financial barrier for the use of SO Jobs, small startups are effectively shut off the platform.
Is this state of affairs good for the community? Are there alternative solutions that would promote diversity of the job ads while still being sustainable for SO business-wise?