11–20 of 43 posts
My thinking was this person won't be a good fit working for someone else if they felt the need to strike out on their own. Just like I wouldn't hire myself.
This was when hiring for a sales role mind you. Obviously different for different positions / experience.
CTO wouldn't scare me if we were hiring for a lower position.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
i think this is the reason most companies fail. people do too much, and aren't able to do a good job at any of it. people lie to themselves and think it's even remotely possible, when it's not. you're going to do a shit job at every one of those 4 jobs if they're all your responsibility. i think companies that raise or make money quickly are able to actually dedicate people to very, very, very critical shit, and will…
If you are going to be a CEO then it is important to wear many hats in the beginning. It is important to understand the basics of accounting, law, sales, etc so that you have some idea what is going on with those aspects of the business when you are able to delegate those jobs to experts.
Anytime I would see a resume with CEO / Founder on it I would immediately pass. My thinking was this person won't be a good fit working for someone else if they felt the need to strike out on their own. Just like I wouldn't hire myself. This was when hiring for a sales role mind you. Obviously different for different positions / experience. CTO wouldn't scare me if we were hiring for a lower position.
It's the number one reason why people generally attempt to "strike out on their own" - lack of recognition and perspectives as an employed worker.
In the last ten years all my projects and startups failed in the sense of hitting any type of home runs or even a single...but they led me on great, unique journeys that make me a more interesting candidate/coder then those who just code to make a living. After ten years of doing startups and coding/designing for a living I am never out of work and landing jobs and better ones is easy because and again my story is more interesting then the next guy who just codes for a living.
Doing side projects and or startups in the past or even present is a great thing for any coder and or designer for your resume! You will be more then fine and the market is great for us...get a few years under your belt and you will have recruiters banging at your door offering you a better job weekly or daily!
Your career prospects are at least what they were before you started your company, but you will have to answer much different questions than most people.
1. People will be concerned that you don't want to work for anyone else. It is important to remind the people that you meet with that you were willing to take on many, many more bosses than a typical employee. Customers, investors, future employees etc. You can talk about how you helped them etc.
2. If you are a developer, there a lots of options. Business is harder, but there will be life after your startup. (I can code a tiny amount but I am not a real developer. I am really knowledgeable about finance and financial modeling. It took me about 30 days to find something in finance... more on this below)
3. When I decided to shutdown my company, I emailed basically everyone I had talked to about the company and told them first that I decided to shut it down and thanked them for their previous help. I did it because it was the right thing to do, but it actually helped a lot in my search because people all offered intros when I asked later on.
4. Asking for intros is the way to go. Find companies that you like and find a 2nd connection there or 1st connection there. If it is a 1st connection, tell them you would like to grab a coffee with them to get information about their experience at the company you are interested in. If you have someone who is a 2nd connection at a company you are interested in, ask the intermediary connection for an intro. Most people will happily help!
5. When you shut down your company, you will probably want $$$ immediately. Try to resist taking the first offer unless you are sure it is a good fit. I made the mistake of taking an offer from a manager I wasn't sure about and it turned in to a full disaster.
6. Email me if you need help with your story or want to understand the introduction process better. (email in profile).
Best of luck, you will either have success in your company or finding another role. In 2 years, this period of extreme stress will be behind you so just keep doing the right things.
1) Working for a failed startup will mean reference-checking companies will not be able to verify your employment. In some cases, HR will rescind their offer to you.
2) If you were the co-founder of a small, failed startup, putting CxO on your resume will create all sorts of problems at every step of the interview process if you're applying as an engineering IC. So you're better off just saying "Principal Engineer" rather than CTO.
You can avoid a lot of career grief by selling or acquihiring your company, so try at all costs.
Having said that, if you have a strong personal network or you're famous, you might be able to approach a manager and get them to go to bat for you as a known quantity.
Your career prospects largely depend on answers for those questions - it is different in US (attitude towards failure), different for non-techies, etc. etc. If your company was cashflow positive, then you can show at least temporary success to others (in objective, business terms).
My startup failed last year. It wasn't the greatest feeling to be back searching for a job. I did find a good job and I'm at a good place now. I joined as a developer. I was the CTO of my startup and was a senior architect looking across multiple domains in my previous job. Now, I'm more a specialist, looking at one single thing while it's expected that someone has the responsibility to solve a different problem. To…
i think this is the reason most companies fail. people do too much, and aren't able to do a good job at any of it. people lie to themselves and think it's even remotely possible, when it's not. you're going to do a shit job at every one of those 4 jobs if they're all your responsibility. i think companies that raise or make money quickly are able to actually dedicate people to very, very, very critical shit, and will…
The flip side of this is that you need to pick a problem where this is actually an advantage. If you're solving the same problem that your competitors are but they have 100 highly-specialized employees but you have one generalist, you're going to lose. Big. But if you identify the problem that they're not solving because nobody in their organization has the relevant expertise or job description, you can get a solid foothold, then use that to hire the expertise that you were missing in the first place.
-- Con: flight risk, collaboration risk
-- Pro: for valid reasons, they don't want the founder stress, risk, focus, whatever (say due to family, time, whatever), but love the environment. Such people are amazing: a classic "barrel" (http://firstround.com/review/Keith-Rabois-on-the-role-of-a-C...) .
We've been working the past few months with someone like this, and he is basically a multiplier on our ability to execute!