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Ask HN: Leaving a Job at Big Tech Giants for Startup

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Re: Ask HN: Leaving a Job at Big Tech Giants for Startup

#11

Post by ARandomerDude »

zerohp wrote: post #9
mswen wrote: post #2

Most of us here on HN have done a startup, been an early employee of a startup or hang out here at least in part because we dream of doing a startup. Given those biases I think the default is leaning that way. On the other hand you already appear to be living the alternate dream talked about often here on HN - good job at a tech giant at least if it is one of the FANG and not one of the older school tech giants. My o…

My experience working at a startup biased me against it. I'm much happier at a big tech giant.

Totally agree. I'm not at a company known as a "tech company," but it is a household name. Vastly superior in pay and culture to the startup I worked for.

Re: Ask HN: Leaving a Job at Big Tech Giants for Startup

#12

Post by docker_up »

I have a friend who has been at 3 startups in the last 8 years and he regrets being in the startups immensely, because of how much money he has left on the table not being at Apple and Google (he was at both previous). He probably missed out on multi-millions of dollars in stock/RSUs and none of his startups panned out at all.

So, your mileage may vary.

Me personally I've done both, and I think I prefer a small, public company where my RSUs are worth something that I can sell. I don't need multi-millions, but I do need money to survive in the Bay Area.

Re: Ask HN: Leaving a Job at Big Tech Giants for Startup

#13

Post by itin »

What matters more than leaving the posh job is to know what you're leaping into. Will the problem and company you work at be something you want to wake up and work on for the next 7-10 years? Are the founders people you love spending every moment of your waking hours with? Are they pleasant when you disagree with them?

If you have a current opportunity, it would be much easier to compare X with Y than talking about hypotheticals, so my advice is keep looking around for opportunities, and once one arrises think hard and then think again and then take the leap.

In the meantime, focus on becoming a kick-ass coder and/or product person and/or manager and/or fundraiser and/or marketer because these are all critical skills for building successful organizations.

I am currently a masters student doing a 4+1 year program in a prestigious school CS department. I know that if I go work at a big tech company, I will have no motivation to put in my 110% effort, so that's what influenced my decision to join a medium-sized startup. Besides, life is too short to be doing something you don't enjoy.

Re: Ask HN: Leaving a Job at Big Tech Giants for Startup

#14

Post by alsothrownaway »

Please, before you quit or do anything stupid, create a single page preorder form that shows off what you're going to make. If it doesn't sell, you just dodged a bullet. This should be a law or something. Not having to work for someone is a dream, and every dream needs a reality check.

Re: Ask HN: Leaving a Job at Big Tech Giants for Startup

#15

Post by checkyoursudo »

My spouse worked at a ~150 headcount (c round funding) tech startup and hated it.

She now works for a massive revenue, mid-size firm and ... mostly hates it.

At one time in my life, I worked for a company that would have been considered a tech giant of its time (one of the 100 most profitable firms in the US at the time), and it was OK-ish.

My opinion is that I would do it, if I had the opportunity to do it. If you can afford to take the chance now, then consider taking the chance now. You never know if you will be able to do it in the future.

Re: Ask HN: Leaving a Job at Big Tech Giants for Startup

#16

Post by rgbrenner »

My entire career has been startups. On average, your startup will be a failure.

If you want to create one, then it should be for an idea that you really believe in and that has value. Because you're going to have bad days--lots of them--and want to quit. And if you don't believe in what you're building, then you will quit, and it'll all be for nothing. (Plus, if you believe in what you're building and it fails, you won't regret it later.. you'll at least appreciate what you learned.)

The fact that you're asking at all, tells me you should probably stay at your job. If I (a random 3rd party) needs to convince you to do a startup, then forget it. The idea must not be very compelling--it certainly isn't to you.

And if you're thinking that is the path because you've read a bunch of success porn.. you're in for a rude awakening.

Re: Ask HN: Leaving a Job at Big Tech Giants for Startup

#17

Post by xiphias2 »

I would say no to the people who say it's good to have a startup when you're young. For investing and money compounding the first 5-10 years of your working life are the most important.

If you want to make a lot of money, I would look at investing (especially commodities now that stocks/bonds/houses are overvalued) instead of trying a startup. Most people get rich ($3M+) by investing and letting compounding do its job.

Doing a startup is risky, investing can be done in a relatively safe way.

If you really want a startup for some non-money related reason, you can do it when you have money in your bank account.

Re: Ask HN: Leaving a Job at Big Tech Giants for Startup

#18

Post by sujesh »

docker_up wrote: post #12

I have a friend who has been at 3 startups in the last 8 years and he regrets being in the startups immensely, because of how much money he has left on the table not being at Apple and Google (he was at both previous). He probably missed out on multi-millions of dollars in stock/RSUs and none of his startups panned out at all. So, your mileage may vary. Me personally I've done both, and I think I prefer a small, publ…

Money is an important factor. I think in the startup ecosystem money comes second. Validating idea, iteration over it and making it market fit is a long process. Making money comes after that.

Re: Ask HN: Leaving a Job at Big Tech Giants for Startup

#19

Post by sujesh »

rgbrenner wrote: post #16

My entire career has been startups. On average, your startup will be a failure. If you want to create one, then it should be for an idea that you really believe in and that has value. Because you're going to have bad days--lots of them--and want to quit. And if you don't believe in what you're building, then you will quit, and it'll all be for nothing. (Plus, if you believe in what you're building and it fails, you w…

Yep money comes second , product validation and market fit comes first

Re: Ask HN: Leaving a Job at Big Tech Giants for Startup

#20

Post by throw-away-5000 »

If your motivation is making multi-millions one day, you're better off buying a lottery ticket or staying at your FAANG-equivalent job.

I left my large company job 7 years ago to found my own company with a friend. We initially tried our hand at a saas product then figured out we were too green at the business side of things to make it work (read we had no idea how to sell) so moved on to web-dev consulting.

Consulting has been a huge slog, we made every mistake in the book we could (and learnt from them) so we were making meagre salaries for a number of years. However we (lucked out and) met some great people who wanted to start new Saas products with us and could take care of selling and marketing while we build and product manage.

Now we've made our way back to boostrapped-saas-product-land much wiser than before. Been at it for a year now so not quite ramen profitable yet. I am poor AF, my cofounder is poor AF, we are late 30s/early 40s now.

The only reason why we come to work each day is because we have products we believe in, customers who we want to help and employees who we love (and wish we could pay more).

This has been made possible by understanding wives and families too who are happy to scrimp now for a shot at a future they believe in too.

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