• Costco deals are a great way to save money — but they're not always obvious.
• Business Insider asked 49 Costco employees to share their top tips for saving money and making the most of your experience at the store.
• From learning how to navigate the store to figuring out how to identify clearance items, here's some advice from Costco employees.

Costco's deals are a huge draw for many members.

The retail chain is known for hawking just about everything — and selling it in bulk.

Business Insider reached out to Costco employees to learn more about their top shopping tips, because it pays to shop armed with insider information. Thirty-five ended up sharing their best strategies.

One employee of four years suggested shopping for everything at the chain, which isn't that far-fetched of an idea, considering Costco sells cars, vacations, food kits for the apocalypse, yummy fast food, and even caskets.

"The deals are amazing," a Costco employee of four years told Business Insider. "Always think Costco first. From auto insurance, travel, mortgages, return policy, warranties — if you can get it through Costco, you absolutely should."

Here's what Costco workers had to say about how you can instantly improve your shopping experience.

SEE ALSO: Costco employees reveal the worst, grossest, and most bizarre things they've seen on the job

DON'T MISS: Why Costco food courts have charged $1.50 for hot dogs since 1985, according to employees

READ MORE: Costco employees share the 20 things they wish shoppers would stop doing

Buy Kirkland

Kirkland products are the way to go, according to Costco employees.

Kirkland Signature — named for the chain's former headquarters in Kirkland, Washington — is Costco's private label.

"Buy Kirkland — it's cheaper and the same product as the name brand," a Costco employee who has worked for the store for five years told Business Insider.

An employee who's been with the store for 25 years agreed.

Don't hesitate

See something you like at Costco? Buy it. Don't hesitate.

That's what eight Costco employees told Business Insider. Seasonal items often disappear forever.

"Buy seasonal items when you can," one employee told Business Insider. "When they're gone, they're gone."

If you decide to sit on your hands, you might end up regretting it.

"Too many people come back looking for something we phased out," an employee of 10 years told Business Insider. "Buy it when you see it."

You can always return it later if you decide you don't want it.

Spring for the executive membership

A standard membership at Costco is $60 a year. An executive membership will cost you $120 a year and net you an annual 2% reward of up to $1,000 on your purchases.

Five Costco employees told Business Insider that they advised that customers spring for the executive membership.

"Come on," said one employee who has worked at the chain for six years. "You get 2% back on travel. Go to Hawaii. Make money."

• J.P. Livingston embarked on an early retirement at age 28 with a nest egg of $2 million.
• To her surprise, she continued to generate income while retired, earning more than $60,000 in one year with less than five hours a week of work.
• Livingston was able to do this by monetizing her personal-finance blog, The Money Habit, in a way that yields passive income. 

You can take the woman out of work, but you can't take the work out of the woman.

At least, that's the case for J.P. Livingston, who retired at age 28 with a nest egg of more than $2 million, which she saved while living in New York City.

With a starting job in finance that paid $100,000 by the end of the first year, Livingston was able to tuck away 70% of her take-home pay. From there, she invested 40% of that and saved 60%. When she received yearly raises, instead of increasing her spending limit, she saved the difference for retirement.

But to her surprise, her corporate years weren't the last time she'd see a flow of income.

"When I was contemplating early retirement while working, I was very burnt out,"Livingston previously told Business Insider. "I imagined I would want to sit on the couch and eat bonbons, sleep in late, that kind of thing.

"I did do that, but it gets boring eventually, and I ended up getting active again with different hobbies and projects," she continued. "Eventually, one or more of those projects yielded income. It's hard to be awake for 60-plus hours a week and not find a single enjoyable way to earn some money."

She began writing a personal-finance blog, The Money Habit, because the topic had been of interest to her for years, she said.

"I didn't expect it to make any money at all, because there are a million blogs out there, but it eventually got big enough that between the hosting and email bills I decided I should figure out how to monetize it enough to pay its own bills," she told Business Insider. After its first year, "it made over $62,000 with me spending less than five hours a week writing about things I wanted to write about."

Setting up passive income through blogging

Livingston started writing on the blog in August 2016, she said, covering everything from investing and saving to planning for early retirement. In 2017, after attracting a few readers, she researched how others monetized their blogs.

It turns out that affiliate commissions, in which she refers a product or business on the blog and receives a percentage of a sale or a flat commission from that company if a reader makes a purchase, was a huge opportunity. Through this strategy, she earned $60,162 last year.

Much of this was passive income, meaning she didn't have to put in endless hours to see her work quite literally pay off. The lasting value is a bonus of the side hustle, Livingston said.

"If you build your own blog or side business, you have created an operation that can continue to throw off cash for you in the future," she said.

Near year's end, Livingston began adding advertisements to the site, something that earns her $1,000 to $2,000 a month. Because she started using ads so late in the year, they brought in only an extra $2,164 in 2017.

"Earlier this year I had a kid. I was completely offline for three months, but the blog generated over $14,000 in that time," she said. Livingston had posts scheduled to publish once a week during this time, few of which had affiliate links, so most of the revenue came from previous posts and ads.

She added that "it has been amazing getting to talk to thousands of other people who are passionate about the same things as I am."

In fact, if she had known it was still possible to generate income while retired, Livingston thinks she would have retired even earlier than she did.

"I wanted to be absolutely sure I didn't have to work at all once I pulled the trigger," Livingston said. "If I knew then what I know now, I would at least modify my target retirement number to need less buffer, because I knew I could work part time as a fallback to supplement our needs.

"But the reality is that if you have the initiative and discipline to retire early," she said, "you are probably the kind of person who likes to get very engaged in new projects and hobbies, which will eventually yield an income."

SEE ALSO: What 8 people wish they knew before retiring in their 20s and 30s

DON'T MISS: A 24-year-old who's traveling the world says her 'mini-retirement' is more productive than a corporate job

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NOW WATCH: This couple created a money challenge to help them save despite their very different spending habits

Silicon Valley has a tendency to be mocked — there's even an entire HBO comedy centered around the absurdities of living and working there. 

But one Twitter user approached this subject in a new way: comparing the tech capital of the world to the former Soviet Union. Anton Troynikov created a Twitter thread on July 5 that quickly went viral over the weekend, making tongue-in-cheek comparisons between working for a tech giant like Tesla or Amazon and working in the USSR.

Here are some of the highlights: 

'Living five adults to a two room apartment'

'Being told you are constructing utopia while the system crumbles around you'

"'Totally not illegal taxi' taxis by private citizens moonlighting to make ends meet"

San Francisco has raised its minimum wage from $14 to $15 an hour, largely as a response to out-of-control housing prices. The law went into effect on on July 1.

An hourly wage of $15 is more than twice the federal rate of $7.25, but it's still not enough to live in San Francisco comfortably, according to an SFGate analysis of data from the National Low Income Housing Coalition. With a minimum-wage job, the numbers suggest, San Franciscans still need to work 160 hours per week to rent a two-bedroom home.

Minimum wage levels differ by city, but many activist groups in other metros are pushing for their own bumps to $15 per hour.

The Economic Policy Institute, a nonpartisan, nonprofit think-tank, has compiled a list of minimum wages in cities across the US. In some areas, workers who receive tips can make as little as $2.13 an hour.

Many cities follow state or federal minimum wage standards — even though the cost of living tends to be higher in urban areas than the rest of the state or country. In a process called indexing, some metros will soon begin adjusting minimum wage levels annually to account for inflation (based on the state or metro area's Consumer Price Index). Just six states currently have mandatory indexed increases, though several more have legislation in the works.

Take a look below at the minimum wage in 13 major US cities — the list is ordered based on each city's median rental cost for all housing types.

SEE ALSO: Vintage EPA photos reveal what New York City looked like before the US regulated pollution

Detroit — $9.25 an hour

Minimum wage:$9.25 an hour

Tipped wage:$3.52 an hour

Upcoming increases: Statewide annual indexing will begin in April 2019, unless the unemployment rate is high. The hourly wage will rise to $10 in 2019, $10.65 in 2020, $11.35 in 2021, and $12 in 2022. Yearly inflationary adjustments could follow based on Michigan's Consumer Price Index. Under another proposal pending approval, tipped employees would be paid full minimum wage on top of their tips by 2024.

Median rental housing price:$800 per month

Note: Every city in Michigan follows state minimum wage standards.

Louisville — $7.25 an hour

Minimum wage:$7.25 an hour

Tipped wage:$2.13 an hour

Upcoming increases: None

Median rental housing price:$1,195 per month

Note: Every city in Kentucky follows federal minimum wage standards. In 2016, the state ruled that cities do not have the authority to raise the minimum wage.

Iowa City — $7.25 an hour

Minimum wage:$7.25 an hour

Tipped wage:$4.35 an hour

Upcoming increases: Annual indexing will begin in January 2021.

Median rental housing price:$1,325 per month

Most cities in Iowa follow federal minimum wage standards. In 2017, the state's former governor Terry Branstad signed a bill that limited the minimum wage in Johnson County (where Iowa City is located) to $7.25 — before a proposed $10.10 raise could take effect there.

Business Insider is looking for a Graphic Design Intern to join the newsroom's graphics team.

Daily assignments include maps, charts, infographics, data visualizations, illustrations, and story art that is both informative and engaging to our readers. To get a sense of the range of work, check out our Pinterest page.

As an intern here, you'll gain valuable experience collaborating with journalists and designers in a fast-paced and fun work environment. You will have the creative freedom to pitch and develop your own ideas, and your work will be published on a daily basis to our large audience.

The ideal intern will be a super-creative team player with amazing attention to detail. Other desired skills include:

• Expert knowledge of Adobe Illustrator and Photoshop
• Mac proficiency
• Experience with data visualization, illustration, infographics, and typography
• Experience with animation, interactive graphics, basic HTML and CSS not a requirement, but a plus
• You know how to work under a deadline and juggle multiple projects at a time
• Social media savvy — we make a lot of content specifically for Instagram (posts and stories)
• You're a confident designer comfortable pitching and defending your work

To see more examples of our work click here.

Please note: This internship requires that you work in our Manhattan office, preferably full-time at 40 hours a week, for six months. This position might also require early morning hours.

APPLY HERE with a portfolio, resume, and cover letter if this sounds like your dream job, and specify why you're interested in working on our graphics team.

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NOW WATCH: 5 uber-wealthy Middle Eastern countries won't take any refugees from their war-torn neighbors

• McDonald's restaurant crew members have seen it all.
• Business Insider spoke with a number of current and former McDonald's employees about the worst things they've seen on the job.
• They shared their horror stories with us, from early morning soda runs to oatmeal-throwing drive-thru customers.

McDonald's crew members have a few horror stories to share.

Sometimes, customers can be pretty mean. Other times, things just get weird.

Take, for instance, the time performance artists stormed a Moscow McDonald's in 2007 and threw a cat across the counter. "The idea, they said, was to help snap the workers out of the dull routine of menial labor," Reuters reported.

Business Insider spoke with several current and former crew members and heard some of their worst, grossest, and strangest stories about working at the fast food giant.

Here's what they had to say:

SEE ALSO: McDonald's employees share the 4 things they wish they could tell management

DON'T MISS: McDonald's employees reveal their 20 favorite menu items — and one bonus secret menu item everyone should try

SEE ALSO: McDonald's employees share the 6 menu items they'd never eat

Emergency Walmart runs

McDonald's and Coca-Cola are quite a pair.

McDonald's is actually the soda brand's biggest restaurant customer, according to The New York Times, and customers expect to be able to order a soda drink with their McDonald's meal.

So issues with a McDonald's soda machine are a big deal.

One McDonald's crew member of two years told Business Insider how their restaurant dealt with a broken soda dispenser.

"I had to drive to Walmart at 4:00 a.m. to buy 30 two-liter bottles of soda until we could fix the issue," the crew member said.

Barking, disruptive dogs

One McDonald's crew member of seven years complained about encountering customers who bring in "annoying" dogs that "bark in my ear when I'm trying to take your order."

Customers keeping money in their bras

A crew member from Pennsylvania told Business Insider that they hated to see "people that take money out their bras."

They added that they didn't want to have to touch "bra money."

"I don't want to touch what was just touching your flesh," the crew member said.

• Paddy Power Betfair is acquiring fantasy sports company FanDuel.
• FanDuel was valued at $1 billion just three years ago. Now, the company is being sold for less than half that amount.
• According to documents that detail the deal's specifics, FanDuel's original founders might not make any money from the sale.

Selling a company is usually cause for celebration, but for the founders of fantasy sports company FanDuel, the moment is likely to be bittersweet. 

The nine-year-old company, which was once one of Britain's most closely watched startups, was said to be valued at over $1 billion just three years ago. Now, it's valued at less than half that amount by the company that's buying it, Dublin-based bookmaker Paddy Power Betfair. 

According to documentsfirst reported by Legal Sports Report that detail the specifics of the deal, FanDuel is now valued by its investors at around $465 million. 

FanDuel's current valuation is about $50 million more than the total amount of funding it's received since 2009: A whopping $416 million from investors including private equity firms Shamrock Capital and Kohlberg Kravis Roberts.

Now, those investors are cutting FanDuel's founders a raw deal: As majority shareholders, they're exercising their "drag along rights," which allow them sell the company, even if the minority shareholders don't want to.

In this case, the minority shareholders are FanDuel's original founders, Nigel and Lesley Eccles, Tom Griffiths, Rob Jones, and Chris Stafford. None of the original co-founders still work at FanDuel, and it doesn't look like their original efforts will be rewarded — according to the deal documents, they're not going to make any money at all off of the company's sale. Of course, it's not clear what the financial terms were surrounding their departures from the company, and they could have negotiated a pay package

Because the amount FanDuel is being sold for is hardly more than the amount its investors originally gave, its co-founders are losing out. The deal stipulates that "no part" of the payable offer will go to the "company's ordinary shares," along with no options to purchase the company's ordinary shares. In this case, those shares belong to the startup's minority shareholders, which include its founders. 

FanDuel's founders' loss is a classic case of the dangers of a sky-high valuation, in which the founders' original shares are so diluted that their original involvement reaps little compensation when it comes time to sell the company. 

The biggest winners of FanDuel's sell? The company's current executives, who are set up to make at least a few million dollars a piece.

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: What people get wrong about superfoods

• This week, Silicon Valley venture firm Scale Venture Partners closed its sixth fund at $400 million.
• The firm is focused on what Scale VP partner Ariel Tseitlin describes as 'early in revenue investing,' and focuses on helping companies grow their revenue early on.
• Tseitlin said that to effectively bring in revenue, companies should focus on sales and customer conversion rates.

The investment focus at Silicon Valley venture firm Scale VP is what one partner at the firm, Ariel Tseitlin, describes as "mixed stage" investing.

"I cringe when people call the type of investing we do 'late stage investing,'" he said. "We call it 'mixed stage,' or 'early in revenue.'" 

A company that's early on in the process of generating revenue doesn't necessarily imply that it's a late stage company, either. Tseitlin says it's ideal that a startup begins making money early on, and this can happen as soon as the first few rounds of investing, as early as a series A. 

On its sixth raise, Scale VP has closed a $400 million fund to focus on enterprise tech and turn a number of 'early in revenue' companies into profitable ventures. 

Tseitlin says that Scale VP's form of investing puts his firm at a unique advantage: "Because we invest in enterprise software, and, most typically, A, B, and C phase companies, we see what successful companies do right," he said.

Much of SVP's funding model relies on data captured from earlier investments and tried and true benchmarks, said Tseitlin. When it comes to making money, Tseitlin said that it's important to scrutinize the efficiency of each and every function of the business. To successfully turn a profit, there's one particular area of focus to laser in on: Sales.

"There are so many areas to inspect in a new business," said Tseitlin. "How efficient is your ability to generate a new lead? What are your conversion rates?"

Tseitlin offered up the example of Scale VP portfolio company DocuSign, which went public earlier this year, as a company that was laser-focused on operating efficiently from its very beginnings.

"They were focused on growing their business the right way, very early on," said Tseitlin. "They were phenomenal at it."

Tseitlin says the key to DocuSign's success lies in the company's ability to effectively manage the money invested in it, and the components to this are simple: "It's all about sales efficiency," said Tseitlin. "For every dollar you spend, how many dollars does that bring in in new revenue?"

To bring in revenue, Tseitlin suggests that a business should focus on its customer acquisition costs, and the ability to maintain those same customers at every stage of the company. "This is a very important metric of a company's health," said Tseitlin.

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: We interviewed Pepper - the humanoid robot

• Ekapol Chanthawong, 25, is the coach of the Thai soccer team who was trapped in the Tham Luang cave for 17 days.
• Parents are not likely to sue Chanthawong over his leading their children into the cave, Thai lawyers told Business Insider. But one local authority suggested they may seek a lawsuit.
• Chanthawong spent a decade in a Buddhist monastery, and parents are crediting him for keeping their children calm and safe during the two-week ordeal. 

For 17 days, 12 Thai boys, ages 11 to 16, were trapped in a cave in northern Thailand. They were there with Ekapol Chanthawong, 25, the assistant coach of the boys' soccer team.

Chanthawong took the boys about 2 1/2 miles into the cave after a soccer game on June 23 for an initiation ritual in which they would write their names on the cave wall, a rescue diver said.

But heavy rains fell, trapping the team in the cave for about two weeks. On Tuesday, all 12 of the boys and Chanthawong were finally freed from the cave after several days of rescue operations.

Despite the dangerous situation the boys were in, lawyers from Thailand have told Business Insider they doubt that Chanthawong will face charges.

"I personally believe that the coach would not face criminal charges," said Chatnarin Bumpenwattana, an associate lawyer at JTJB International Lawyers, a law firm based in Bangkok.

"All parents would be very likely to forgive the coach for this action," another Bangkok-based lawyer said.

Thai law also takes a defendant's intent into consideration, a criminal-law attorney named Ananchai Chaiyadech told the Thai newspaper Khao Sod last week. And the coach doesn't appear to have intended to put the boys in danger.

"The mood in Thailand is very protective towards the assistant coach," a US-based lawyer who worked in Thailand for an international development organization told Business Insider. "Instead of the parents and the public going to a place of finding someone to blame, they might support and appreciate the assistant coach in an equally unreserved way."

Charges are still possible, but unlikely

The chief of the police station whose jurisdiction includes the cave said he hadn't ruled out charging the coach, Khao Sod reported.

"We have to study the matter carefully first," Col. Komsan Saard-an, the chief of Mae Sai Police Station, told Khao Sod.

Reuters reported that many Thais had been critical of the coach and what they say was he and the boys' recklessness — particularly as international volunteers were involved in the rescue.

"There was a big sign outside the cave but they still went in," one person wrote on the Thai website Pantip, according to Reuters. "They should be scolded."

Thailand's prime minister, Prayut Chan-o-cha, told Thai media the emphasis should be on a safe rescue and ensuring the team's psychological recovery, USA Today reported.

As for the parents, the coach's care of the children is a key reason they may not press charges. He's said to have given the boys part of his limited food rations and had taught them how to meditate.

"At first, he got lots of blame," Bumpenwattana told Business Insider. "But the news appeared that he properly took care of the children and ... that he gave his food to the children, so there is not much anger against him right now."

Videos captured by Thai navy SEAL divers and disseminated to the media last week show the boys in good spirits after rescuers found them in the cave, though they appeared weak. Some parents have told news outlets that they attributed the children's calmness to the coach.

"If he didn't go with them, what would have happened to my child?" one mother told Thai television, as reported by News Corp Australia. "When he comes out, we have to heal his heart.

"My dear Ek," she said, using Chanthawong's nickname, "I would never blame you."

'He loves those boys very much'

Chanthawong had a harrowing childhood — when he was 10, an illness swept his hometown in northern Thailand, leaving his 7-year-old brother, mother, and father dead, The Australian reported.

Umporn Sriwichai, his aunt, said Chanthawong was "a sad and lonely little boy" after the death of his parents and brother. He lived in a Buddhist monastery, keeping to Thai tradition, for 10 years, starting from age 12.

"He taught the boys in the cave to do their meditation," Sriwichai told The Australian. "The first time the English divers found them, the boys were meditating. The students told the rescuers that Akeake"— another of Chanthawong's nicknames — "taught them how to do meditation to preserve the energy in their bodies."

She continued: "I know he would be keeping the boys calm and happy. He loves those boys very much because he lost his father when he was very young."

SEE ALSO: ALIVE: All 12 boys and their coach are safely out of the Thai caves after a 17-day ordeal that gripped the world

DON'T MISS: This diagram shows exactly how the Thai soccer team were rescued from the caves

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NOW WATCH: One of your most important career decisions is who you have kids with

• You might be underpaid and need ask for a raise.
• Glassdoor.com found in a survey that the majority of its users are underpaid — by $4,700 on average.
• Here are some signs that your salary is too low and you ought to ask for a raise, as well as steps to do it.

Feeling like you might be underpaid can be one of the most disheartening aspects of work.

"It stands to reason, because for many, compensation is a concrete litmus test of how well you're performing and progressing on the job — and how highly you're valued," said Lynn Taylor, a national workplace expert and the author of "Tame Your Terrible Office Tyrant: How to Manage Childish Boss Behavior and Thrive in Your Job."

What's crucial, if you realize you are underpaid, is to ask for a bump— not suffer in silence.

"The important thing to remember is that if you don’t ask the answer is always no," career and wellness coach Joanna Echols told Business Insider. "Even if you don’t get the raise right away, and you are an exceptional performer, the raise discussion with your boss is a great opportunity to reinforce your accomplishments and explain your future plans of adding more value to the company."

Here are 16 signs you're not being paid your worth, and what to do to boost your salary:

SEE ALSO: 5 major mistakes that can derail your salary negotiations

DON'T MISS: People are quitting their jobs in droves this year — and getting record-setting pay boosts because of it

A similar job listing on your company website offers higher pay

"If there are multiple positions like yours at the company, the job description closely resembles yours, and the salary is higher, that's one of the most obvious signs," Taylor said.

Stay on top of this by occasionally searching your own company's job postings to monitor what new employees are being paid, "and to see if that feels reasonable given your current level of experience and role in the company," said Michael Kerr, an international business speaker and author of "The Humor Advantage."

Your firm's revenue has taken off, but your salary has barely budged

If your company isn't public, it's harder to obtain hard numbers about revenue growth.

But you likely have a sense of whether your company is booming or busting. If it's the former, you have a good reason to argue for a raise, Taylor said.

The salary for your first job was below market, and it hasn't changed much since

Think back to the salary you accepted for your first job — maybe you accepted a salary you knew was low because you were desperate.

Now consider how your pay progressed from there. If it hasn't changed much, you're probably underpaid. 

"It can be difficult to play catch-up if you started low," Taylor said.

• SparkNotes, the book-summary site, is one example of a startup that was so popular in its early days that it couldn't keep up with customer demand.
• Other examples include GOAT, the world's largest resale marketplace for high-end sneakers, and VIPKid, a Chinese education startup. 
• At least one entrepreneur says this is the sign that a company has achieved product-market fit.

Of the many reasons startups fail, being too popular isn't the first that comes to mind.

And yet that's exactly what (almost) happened to a series of now-successful companies.

Take book-summary sites SparkNotes, for example. Sam Yagan was a Harvard undergrad when he cofounded the company along with his roommate; the site went live the spring of their senior year.

As Yagan told Business Insider's Richard Feloni on an episode of the podcast "Success! How I Did It," the immediate response was that "people were pissed." Specifically, because the site didn't have the book they needed yet.

"That's the best kind of hate mail to get, is we need more product," Yagan said. That summer, they hired some editors to put up more SparkNotes, "and the rest is history."

Eddy Lu had a similar experience when he cofounded GOAT, which is now the world's largest resale marketplace for high-end sneakers.

On Black Friday 2015, GOAT blew up and couldn't keep up with customer demand; thousands of orders were left unfilled.

As Lu told Feloni on another episode of the podcast, "We responded to every single customer-service message. I think there were about 4,500 that day. But at that point it was better to be hated than unknown."

Untenable customer demand can be a sign of product-market fit

Unprecedented customer demand nearly put VIPKid out of business. As Business Insider's Harrison Jacobs reported, the Chinese education startup connects native English-speaking teachers with young Chinese students for virtual English lessons.

While the company was in its pilot stage in 2014, a friend of cofounder Cindy Mi tried out the service and posted about it on Weibo (China's version of Twitter).

Within a day, Jacobs reported, the company was receiving calls and messages from people who wanted to try the service for themselves. People started to get angry because the company wasn't able to respond to all their requests.

Mi's team ultimately resolved the problem by putting out a statement that read: "Give us a couple of months and, when we're ready, we'll come back to you."

Mi told Jacobs that the message conveyed to customers that the company was professional instead of sleazy and wasn't simply trying to get money out of them before the product was ready.

This is a phenomenon that Y Combinator CEO Michael Seibel has seen before — and he thinks it's a good thing. In an "Ask me Anything" interview, Seibel said, "My definition of product-market fit is: You are drowning in demand — your product is being used by so many customers that you cannot handle all the new people knocking at your door!"

Seibel acknowledged that not every successful company achieved this milestone. And yet he said, "I don't understand how you can have product-market fit and not a lot of people wanting your product. The two go hand-in-hand."

SEE ALSO: The 32-year-old CEO of The Muse who quit a job at McKinsey to start her own company shows there are 2 ways to launch a business — and one gives you a much better chance of success

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: Why you hold your boss accountable, according to a Navy SEAL

• President Donald Trump has nominated Judge Brett Kavanaugh to replace the retiring Justice Anthony Kennedy on the US Supreme Court.
• Kavanaugh was born and bred in the Washington, DC area and has a long history in conservative circles.
• His journey to the US Supreme Court has been so star-studded, one senator once called him the "Forrest Gump" of Republican politics.

President Donald Trump has nominated Judge Brett Kavanaugh, 53, to replace the retiring Justice Anthony Kennedy on the US Supreme Court.

"There is no one in America more qualified for this position, and no one more deserving," Trump said at the announcement Monday night, fewer than two weeks after Kennedy said he would end his 30-year career on the bench.

Republicans have praised Kavanaugh, but the Ivy League-educated veteran of George W. Bush's administration has a tough confirmation process ahead of him. Republicans' 51-49 hold on the Senate puts Kavanaugh in a precarious spot.

Top Democratic Sen. Dick Durbin once called Kavanaugh the "Forrest Gump of Republican politics", and has spoken out since his nomination with concerns about how he could affect proceedings in the special counsel Robert Mueller's investigation into Trump's actions as obstruction of justice. And other liberals are worried about what Kavanaugh could do to abortion rights.

As Kavanaugh heads to Capitol Hill to begin the confirmation proceedings, here's a look at how the Washington, DC born-and-bred conservative rose to the court's most pivotal nomination in decades:

SEE ALSO: Trump nominates Brett Kavanaugh to replace the retiring Justice Anthony Kennedy on the Supreme Court

SEE ALSO: Trump's Supreme Court pick has expressed doubts about investigating or prosecuting a sitting president

Brett Kavanaugh was born Feb. 12, 1965, in Washington, DC.

Source: NPR

He attended Georgetown Preparatory School, an all-boys school in Rockville, Maryland. He was staff for the school newspaper, played on the school's varsity football team, and was captain of the basketball team.

Source: Washingtonian

Trump's first Supreme Court nominee, Associate Justice Neil Gorsuch, also attended Georgetown Prep and graduated two years before Kavanaugh.

Sources: Washingtonian, Business Insider

• How much do Supreme Court justices make? That's what many people are wondering with the nomination of Brett Kavanaugh to be the next associate justice on the Supreme Court.
• Supreme Court associate justices will earn $255,300 this year,  according to the US Courts, while Chief Justice John Roberts' salary is $267,000.
• That's more than double what judges typically earn in the US, according to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Brett Kavanaugh, who has served on the Court of Appeals District of Columbia Circuit since 2006, was nominated by President Donald Trump to be the next associate justice on the Supreme Court. 

The 2018 salary of a Supreme Court associate justice is $255,300, according to the US Courts. Chief Justice John Roberts' salary is $267,000.

Supreme Court justices earn more than double the $115,520 per year judges typically earn in the US, according to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics.

If confirmed, Kavanaugh would receive a raise of almost 16% from his current, $220,600-per-year salary for his role as a circuit judge.

Adjusted for inflation, the current associate justice salary is lower than it was in 2008. At that time, Supreme Court Justices earned $208,100, which is around $243,000 in today's dollars. The chief justice earned a 2018 equivalent of about $254,000.

Justices also tend to earn plenty of money on the side, Business Insider reported in 2015. 

Antonin Scalia, who served as an associate justice from 1986 to his death in 2016, earned $60,000 in noninvestment income in 2014. More than half of that was royalty payments for the books he had written.

Meanwhile, Roberts held $250,000 in Time Warner stocks and $500,000 in Microsoft stocks. 

SEE ALSO: Trump nominates Brett Kavanaugh to replace the retiring Justice Anthony Kennedy on the Supreme Court

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• Amazon had a workforce of over 500,000 people in March.
• Renewable energy manager Brittany Stanton is one of those employees.
• She's based out of the online retail giant's Seattle headquarters.
• Business Insider spoke with her about what it's like to work at Amazon.

Brittany Stanton knew right away that the job at Amazon would be a good fit.

The renewable energy manager told Business Insider that she wanted to work with "extremely smart and passionate" people.

And the idea of living in Seattle didn't hurt either. Stanton said that, as a Midwesterner, she was excited to be close to the ocean and the Cascade Range.

"The Pacific Northwest is a great fit for me, and that's what drove me here," Stanton said.

She began working at the online retailer's headquarters in May 2017.

Stanton recently spoke with Business Insider about what it's like to work at Amazon, as well as her strategies for staying productive and achieving a work-life balance.

Here's a look inside her daily routine:

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Stanton works out in the morning.

Stanton typically rises around 5 a.m. and heads over to her early morning workout class. At the gym, she sometimes opts for a spin class, but prefers a boot camp-style workout. A number of gyms in Seattle's South Lake Union area offer Amazon employees discounted membership rates.

After exercising, Stanton said she'll usually whip up some hard-boiled eggs for breakfast before walking to work.

"Luckily, because I'm one of the first people in the office, no one can smell the hard boiled eggs," Stanton told Business Insider.

While the office doesn't usually start buzzing until 9 a.m., Stanton isn't alone when she gets into work around 7 a.m. or 8 a.m. Rexi, Stanton's German shepherd, Chihuahua, and rat terrier mix, clocks in with her.

She uses the morning to organize and prioritize.

"I like to spend my mornings at the beginning of the week organizing what I want to accomplish throughout the week," Stanton said.

She added that she tries to prioritize her weekly tasks based on urgency and difficulty. She said she also likes to set aside some time to think about "the big picture" in the morning.

"I save a few hours every week to think about what's next for Amazon and sustainability," she said.

She said that Amazon has a 'results-oriented' culture.

When it comes to Amazon's culture, Stanton described the company as "results-oriented" and customer-focused.

"This sounds a bit cliché, but it ties back to our leadership principals and our culture of innovation," she said. "As long as you can tie your project or your program back to something that's going to relate to our customers, you can get a lot done. Everyone within Amazon understands that, and it's such a core part of our culture."

"The thing that really drives me, and the thing that I like about our culture, is that it's full of really smart people that have a lot of pride and passion for what they do," she added.

• You might not need to wear a suit to an interview, your first day of work, or other tricky work situations.
• Those in banking or law will likely need to wear a suit to work many days, and especially to interviews, but other industries are more business casual.

"Do I need to wear a suit?"

It's a question you might ask yourself in various professional situations: before a job interview, pre-networking event, and while compiling a work wardrobe.

Because a high-quality suit can cost up to $1,000, you probably don't want to buy one if you don't have to.

And you might be able to be perfectly appropriate without it. 

Below, find expert advice on whether you really need a suit for a variety of professional situations.

Going to work as a banker or lawyer: probably

Suits remain common among lawyers, money managers, and bankers, image curator Scarlett De Bease told Business Insider.

"Some industries, positions, and individual companies are simply more formal than others,"Marc Cenedella, CEO of Ladders, previously told Business Insider. 

If you do need to buy a suit to look appropriate for your industry, ensure it's a versatile one.

"Make sure you can wear the blazer, skirt, dress, and pants all as separates as well as together as a suit,"Kat Griffin, founder of Corporette, a blog about work clothes, told Business Insider.

Going to work in creative, tech, or other industries: no

Only one in 10 men wear a suit to work every day. Chances are, you don't have to sport one either. A good question to ask yourself in the morning: If your boss' boss called you into a sudden meeting today, would you feel appropriately dressed?

Interviews: maybe

Traditional wisdom says it's better to overdress than underdress, if in doubt. While that holds true in many cases, wearing a suit when your interviewers are in jeans and sneakers could introduce a layer of awkwardness.

"Some of the most common mistakes people make when dressing for an interview are following old and outdated advice or not taking the time to do their research and ask questions about the company culture ahead of time," Cenedella told Business Insider.

Call HR or a contact within the company and inquire about what folks are wearing.

"Some questions one may ask include: Is half the office wearing ties? Is half the office wearing flip-flops? What will my interviewers be wearing?" Cenedella said. "If they're vague, you can always be direct and ask 'Will I feel out of place in formal business attire?' If they answer 'not at all,' you know it's expected."

In the case that you don't need a suit, men can wear well-tailored separates, like a sports coat and slacks. 

Women can wear high-quality dresses or separates. 

"No longer are blazers, ties or heels a requirement for appropriate interview attire," Cenedella told Business Insider. "Today, one should ensure that their attire is clean, wrinkle-free, and well put together."

Networking events: probably not

Because you're meeting an array of people, you can't tailor your look to one company.

Instead, follow the industry-wide rules. You'll definitely need a suit to meet other finance folks, but probably not so much for creative industries.

First day of work: depends where it is

As with the interview, you want to communicate that you're a good cultural fit for the company.

But where the interview is a more formal experience, you can tone it down a bit now that you've got the job. You don't want to be that one over-eager intern who shows up in a full suit.

Don't go too casual, either. You also don't want to come in the office wearing flip-flops because your interviewer did — only to find out that everyone on your team wears heels or loafers.

And good news: If you do make a suit misstep on your first day of work, you'll have plenty of days to make up for it.

SEE ALSO: How to dress for your first job without blowing your paycheck

SEE ALSO: 16 things you should never wear to work — even if you work in a business casual environment

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SEE ALSO: 15 things all Trader Joe's employees know that most shoppers don't

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The sense of freedom

Two Trader Joe's crew members who spoke to Business Insider emphasized the sense of freedom and flexibility the chain fosters.

"There's no script," one crew member from New York told Business Insider. "As long as I make sure the customer is having a great time, and I'm emphasizing Trader Joe's values, I can talk to people about whatever I want."

The employee added that they had never had a manager tell them to avoid speaking about certain topics with customers.

"They all love that I'm engaged," the crew member said. "I've discussed politics, religion, movies, philosophy, parenting, and so many other things, all while bagging people's groceries. It's the best."

And, according to one California-based employee who spoke to Business Insider, that sense of flexibility also manifests itself in the chain's scheduling procedures.

"The scheduling is flexible and school-friendly," the crew member told Business Insider.

A strong set of benefits

"As far as benefits are concerned, TJ's does quite well," former crew member Devon Hammer wrote in a 2012 Quora post.

He cited the chain's "good system for vacation pay" and comprehensive health insurance plans, in particular.

Trader Joe's insurance plans come out to $75 a month, according to the chain's website. The store also offers a retirement plan, contributing "10% of annual salary to eligible crew members" and paid time off.

A California-based crew member told Business Insider that the store's benefits and "great hourly wages" were a huge draw.

A focus on boosting morale

"I could list off the several little things done day-to-day in order to keep morale high, but that in and of itself is a big contributor to the attitude of the employees," crew member Alden Aust wrote on Quora. "The company knows their reputation and bends over backwards to maintain that via free food, friendly managers and fringe benefits."

• Tesla, Otto, and other tech firms are developing autonomous trucks.
• Legal experts and trucking analysts worry that current liability laws aren't adapting to self-driving trucks.
• Current laws don't allow a truck manufacturer to be sued if it designed or manufactured a truck that kills someone.

Tesla, Otto, and other companies have been developing driverless vehicles for years, with Mercedez-Benz placing a semi-autonomous truck on the road in 2015.

Tech leaders and financiers alike are confident that self-driving trucks will become the norm as early as the next decade, phasing out around 1.8 million truck driving jobs and saving the industry an estimated $300 billion.

As for the actual truck drivers and those who analyze the industry, many are surprisingly nonchalant. They're skeptical that this much-hyped technology has any looming effect.

"I think we're actually still a pretty long way from that technology being fully baked," Andrew Lynch, the cofounder and president of Columbus-based supply-chain company Zipline Logistics, told Business Insider. 

"We're not even close to prepared," Lynch said, for those trucks to function on the highway — a pre-existing system that's clogged with human drivers.

Donald Broughton, the managing partner of transportation analysis firm Broughton Capital, said it's true that self-driving trucks won't be barreling down the highway in the next five years. 

But it's not just because of kinks in the technology — it's also because of legal complications. 

'We have to change the liability law'

There's no clear path to suing a self-driving truck who hits and kills those outside of the truck. In 2016, 3,326 passenger vehicle occupants, motorcyclists, bicyclists, and pedestrians died in large truck crashes. (Around 80% of car-truck crashes were caused by the passenger vehicles, not the truck.)

In cases where the trucker was at fault, the plaintiff bar might sue the truck driver, the trucking company who hired the driver, and potentially the company who hired the trucking company, Broughton said.

Following current liability laws, the bar cannot sue the freight company who made the equipment. 

"If the self-driving truck runs into somebody, there's no truck driver to sue," Broughton told Business Insider. "We have to change the liability law to include and indemnify the maker of the truck."

And lawmakers haven't tried made make the law of inclusive of autonomous technology companies. A bill currently pending in Congress, called the AV Start Act, would not allow people who are badly injured while riding a self-driving car to sue the maker of the technology or take part in a class action lawsuit.

Disputes would have to be settled in private arbitration instead, which CNN reported in March tends to favor the company over consumers.

"The nightmare scenario is that someone is hurt because of a defect and it's dealt with through a confidential arbitration proceeding that nobody knows about, and then more people are hurt because no one found out about it," Ed Walters, who teaches robotics law at Georgetown Law and Cornell Tech, told CNN. "Congress could stick up for the right to sue by prohibiting these kind of clauses, but so far they haven't."

As for the trucking industry, there's no law at all that allows for manufacturers to be held responsible for failures in self-driving technology. That could put everyone who drives along big trucks in danger, should self-driving freight become the norm.

"Everybody is talking about, 'Ooh, it's cool technology,' without considering the legal component," Broughton told Business Insider.

SEE ALSO: Silicon Valley believes driverless trucks and drones will soon transform how we get things — but truckers and warehouse workers disagree

DON'T MISS: Being away from home for weeks on end can put truckers' mental health at risk, and there's no solution in sight

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• Panera Bread employees know all about how things are run at the popular fast-food chain.
• A number of current and former employees have posted about their experiences on social media.
• Here are some insider facts, tips, and hacks that Panera Bread employees have shared online.

SEE ALSO: Costco employees share their 9 best tips for getting an even better deal on your next shopping trip

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You can always try asking for a specialized order...

If you want an order tweaked at Panera Bread, it can't hurt to ask.

In a 2018 Quora post, associate trainer Ariana Dickerson wrote that calorie-conscious customers should ask for help.

"If you're worried about calories or how many just ask any associate, they'll grab their nutrition guide and help you create your perfect salad," she wrote on Quora.

Former Panera Bread employee Josh Benner took to Quora to make all sorts of suggestions, including asking for free granola toppings on fruit salads, requesting toasted sandwiches, and swapping the bread on certain sandwiches.

"Some sandwiches are on breads that just don't make sense," he wrote. "I'm looking at you turkey avocado on sour dough. Nobody should have to deal with the hassle of fitting that big sandwich on such a small piece of bread."

... and you can also ask for options other than the standard baguette side order

Not in the mood for one of Panera Bread's traditional side baguettes?

That's okay. You've got options.

"You also have the option of a sprouted grain dinner roll," Panera Bread catering coordinator Laura Biermann wrote in a 2018 Quora post.

What's more, associate Luis Torres wrote in a 2017 Quora post that customers also "have the option to pick two slices of any of the other breads we offer."

The bread is really baked in the store

At Panera Bread, the titular product is really baked at the restaurant. Individual stores receive daily shipments of pre-mixed dough.

"I do really bake the bread," a Panera Bread baker wrote in a 2015 Reddit AMA. "The bread is just mixed at a big factory and than transported to us every night or morning, so we can let it rise."

The baker added that Panera Bread employees bake all the breads — including sourdough, ciabatta, focaccia, croissants, and challah— the sweets behind the glass, and soufflés.

Likewise, the employee added that Panera Bread soups are delivered in bag, and then heated up into "this scary-looking thing called a thermalizer."

Another Panera Bread baker wrote in a 2013 Reddit post that "the final baked product was always baked during the night before" at Panera, and surplus product is typically donated to local charities.

• If you're wondering how to deal with a bad coworker, you're not alone. Almost every workplace has at least one office jerks.
• Worse, toxic workplace cultures actively foster more bad behavior.
• Stanford professor Robert Sutton has some tips on how to deal with bad coworkers.

You've got to learn how to deal with workplace jerks if you're going to advance professionally — and preserve your sanity.

Robert Sutton, professor of management at Stanford University and author of "The No Asshole Rule," spoke to a number of individuals who have coped with less than ideal coworkers for his upcoming book "The Asshole Survival Guide."

His sources included people who have worked with back-stabbers, incompetent and abusive bosses, and even one man who dealt with a noisy coworker who, according to a decibel meter, was as loud as cutting metal.

He said that, in many cases, it's best to either avoid working with jerks in the first place or quit and move on.

But that evasive maneuvering isn't always warranted — or possible for everyone.

With that in mind, Sutton broke down seven strategies for surviving the worst people in your office:

SEE ALSO: 11 signs you can't trust your coworkers

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Use cognitive tricks to look on the bright side

Sutton described the experience of a young lawyer who worked for a federal judge as part of a two-year clerkship. Her coworkers and boss were incredibly hard to deal with, but quitting would have been tantamount to career suicide. It'd also leave her drowning in student loan debt.

Sutton said the young lawyer coped by using a simple cognitive behavioral trick. She simply imagined herself at the end of her clerkship.

"When you're in a difficult situation, if you can say to yourself, 'If I can just get through tonight and look back on it over the weekend, six months, a year from now,' stressful situations actually do much less damage on our mental and physical health," Sutton told Business Insider.

Retain your sense of humor

Another example of cognitive distancing that Sutton recommends is trying to find humor in terrible situations.

"That always helps," he said. "It's amazing. You start laughing at people. That's certainly what I do with some of my more difficult colleagues at Stanford."

Physically avoid the worst people at work

Switch desks to get away from your annoying neighbor. Sit as far away from the rudest person in the office during meetings. Try to change up your schedule to avoid running into your workplace enemy in the kitchen.

The less you come into contact with workplace jerks, the better, said Sutton.

• 100 Gen Zs shared with Business Insider what they think makes them different from millennials, and a few trends were clear.
• Gen Zs believe themselves to be social justice-minded and more dependent on technology than millennials. 
• Marketers have noticed that this generational cohort isn't as brand-conscious as their peers, and they're much more frugal.

My first memory ever is using dial-up internet (I think I was interested in the weird sounds), my parents are Baby Boomers, and I lived at least half of my life without the conveniences of mobile internet.

In other words, I'm a millennial.

Millennials have been framed as selfish, "psychologically scarred," in constant need of validation, and killing several industries, from casual dining to (perhaps worst of all) bar soap.

But now it's time for a new generation to take the spotlight — and the heat: Generation Z, or all Americans born after 1997, are the newest generation.

As I've reported on this emerginggeneration and talked to Gen Zs nationwide, I've been struck by the differences this cohort has in comparison to myself and my fellow millennials.

And marketers and teens alike have been happy to highlight the differences. Here's what they say sets these two generations apart:

SEE ALSO: 104 Generation Zs reveal what it's like to be a teen in 2018

Millennials spent much of their childhoods without social media or smartphones

Facebook didn't start to become ubiquitous until 2008. The first iPhone was invented in 2007.

As a result, many millennials spent their childhoods without cell phones and depending on the family desktop computer.  

The oldest millennials, who were born in the early 1980s, even made it to college using dial-up internet, using actual floppy disks, and cassette players.

As a younger millennial, I remember the transition from CDs to iPods and being flabbergasted as a teen by my first cell phone that could connect to the internet. 

Gen Zs don't know a world before mobile technology

By 2000, the majority of American homes had at least one computer. Even though many millennials grew up using the internet, it was probably with the sole family desktop computer. 

But, thanks to mobile internet, Gen Zs have computers in their pockets. They're able to be online constantly in a way that millennials never were in their youth.

The majority of teens told Business Insider in a recent survey that technology is what sets them apart from millennials.

• "For Gen Z, this tech is all we ever knew about and has been in our lives since we were babies."— New York resident Isabel Lagando, 14
• "Everything in our generation is immediate. Since we have been raised in an age where texts and messages can be sent in the blink of an eye, we are less patient than other generations because we are used to having instant gratification."— North Carolina resident Margaret Bolt, 15
• "We communicate through social media and texts, which changes the dynamic of communication."— Virginia resident Maddie Martin, 19

Millennials mostly grew up during healthy economic times, but are now poorer than their parents

Less than half of millennials think they're better of than their parents were at their age, compared to 55% of baby boomers, according to the Urban Institute. 

Millennials who graduated in the late 2000s and early 2010s encountered a depressed job market, and many also owed tens of thousands in student loans during their 20s and 30s. 

Still, they're notorious for being overly-optimistic despite their heady economic circumstances. That might be because they grew up during economic prosperity. 

"Millennials were an optimistic generation that's often seen as being pandered to by parents and adults in their lives,"Salesforce reports.