11–20 of 193 posts
Only do this if you think you've set the company up for long-term success and it will still be successful even without you there.
Also only do this if you think you can make out better in the long-term (more money, more equity, equally sure thing elsewhere), otherwise just buckle down and ride out the remaining 2 years.
Unless you think your current company is trash, then just bounce.
Leave. Be pragmatic: there will be other opportunities which are equally interesting and staying isn't helping. You could be CTO at a different startup. Further, you should be approximately at your zenith at the company and they should be able to provide a strong reference, if you stay dissatisfied your performance and appearance will suffer - along with your potential for future employment. Also happiness is about t…
Very easy to say, but if you have significant equity (which, as employee #2, you really should) it's a lot more difficult to just step away. "The journey" is all very well, but if that journey involves checking out for a year while you wait for a payout then so be it.
Woah, I'm not saying you shouldn't be getting paid. The trick is getting paid while you are interviewing for new positions! Just make sure your interviewing for them.
Leave. Be pragmatic: there will be other opportunities which are equally interesting and staying isn't helping. You could be CTO at a different startup. Further, you should be approximately at your zenith at the company and they should be able to provide a strong reference, if you stay dissatisfied your performance and appearance will suffer - along with your potential for future employment. Also happiness is about t…
Very easy to say, but if you have significant equity (which, as employee #2, you really should) it's a lot more difficult to just step away. "The journey" is all very well, but if that journey involves checking out for a year while you wait for a payout then so be it.
Also consider... do you want to manage a large team? Or do it again from the ground up?
Leave. Be pragmatic: there will be other opportunities which are equally interesting and staying isn't helping. You could be CTO at a different startup. Further, you should be approximately at your zenith at the company and they should be able to provide a strong reference, if you stay dissatisfied your performance and appearance will suffer - along with your potential for future employment. Also happiness is about t…
If he's got options, they'll be vesting -- typically over a 4yr period. He's 2yrs in so if he decides to leave, then he'll lose half of them. If he's willing to do that, then he'll have to exercise what he already has vested. Does he even have the cash to do that?
It's easy to suggest that people just 'move on' but it's important to remember the context.
But you should stick by the VP of Engineering and learn whatever you can from them. Be their right-hand person, and try to become someone that the entire company goes to for technical issues. It's not hard to be the de facto CTO, just make sure you are a part of all the technical decisions, and a positive guiding force for the company. As you become more and more the face of technical decisions, eventually you'll be recognized for it, or you can go to another company in that higher role.
if you believe in the company, and the founders, go to them and fight for what you've created and your position. If they don't listen and help come up with a solution to retain you, it's probably time to move on.
Leave. Be pragmatic: there will be other opportunities which are equally interesting and staying isn't helping. You could be CTO at a different startup. Further, you should be approximately at your zenith at the company and they should be able to provide a strong reference, if you stay dissatisfied your performance and appearance will suffer - along with your potential for future employment. Also happiness is about t…
Very easy to say, but if you have significant equity (which, as employee #2, you really should) it's a lot more difficult to just step away. "The journey" is all very well, but if that journey involves checking out for a year while you wait for a payout then so be it.
That's the big unknown here.
If he does have significant equity (even 2.5% or more is good), then what's the problem. He gets to share the long-term benefits without any of the stressful responsibilities and can be solely devoted to doing what he's best at. If a brief mention on About Us page is all he cares about, bring it up at your next review and say that it's not about ego specifically but more about career advancement and personal growth.
If he doesn't have decent equity then he should've quit long ago and hanging around any longer isn't going to be any more satisfying. Unless he is super critical to their development (i.e. only he knows how module X works), then he could negotiate a better job title at the threat of leaving but that could be a risky and burn-bridges move.
You don't give us a clue to answer this. Your whole story is about things that happened. You haven't told us about what you wanted. You haven't told us anything that you did to get what you want. Did you know what you wanted? Did you do anything to try to get it for yourself?
> I should just "be happy."
I call bullshit. If you were happy to passively accept what's being handed you (money, responsibility, acclaim), you wouldn't have made this post. Honest mindful gratitude makes a person happier, but cloaking bitterness with false gratitude, which this sounds like to me, will make a person ever more bitter.
You have to start with what you want.
If you want to keep doing everything like you did before, then you should make a career as early stage CTO. If you want reward and acclaim for that, then you have to negotiate it up front, usually as a nice slice of equity. Be advised, there's risk in that.
If you want to grow with a company, then you won't be able to do everything you were doing before. You will have to focus. And you have to assert your case that you want the role and can be successful in it. To grow with the company in one of these roles, you'll need to cede the other roles to new teammates. You will probably have to mostly stop coding. You will have to embrace the thousand headaches that come with the new role as the company grows.
These are two possible career strategies. There are others. All start with knowing yourself. All depend on asserting yourself.
Your career path is your responsibility. Don't expect anyone else to care about it, though occasionally someone might.