11–18 of 18 posts
>> The same general situation has happened to me twice now and I am wondering if it’s something I can break free from or if it’s just the nature of the Startup beast - or what 9 out of 10 statups will fail. So if you're joining startups uou can expect them to (mostly) follow this pattern. If you don't like this pattern the perhaps look for jobs at more stable (ie non VC) companies. And consider companies not directly…
imho if you're at a company, and they're having layoffs... it's generally better to be laid off, get some severance, and end up at some other company that is hiring / growing, rather than a "survivor" who now has more work to do with fewer people at a company that is possibly troubled, unlikely to give any good pay increases any time soon, etc etc. re #3 - no, "jack of all trades" tends to be a career trap / dead end…
Any tips on avoiding being pulled in too many directions?
You're not unlucky, you're just really good at absorbing pain. Companies keep you because leaving would break things. That's leverage... use it. Negotiate equity or walk.
The only reason to accept the negatives of working at a startup (stress, below market remuneration, workload) is the potential upside (rapid growth and an eventual liquidity event). If the startup is contracting, it sounds like the only potential upside has disappeared. I’ve been in a similar situation before and made the mistake of sticking around, to the detriment of my physical, mental and financial health. Obviou…
That only works so much. If a team goes from 3 people to 1 person, that's probably doable... you're leaving out a lot of communication. But from 6 to 1, you're going to have to prioritize what gets done and what doesn't.
But if you're working for the payoff from equity and the team size is shrinking that much, there's no payoff coming. Your salary had better be enough, but you should be looking for an exit.