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Downsides to working at a tech giant

blog.garrytan.com

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Re: Downsides to working at a tech giant

#11

Post by Apocryphon »

wrigby wrote: post #8
adamnemecek wrote: post #4

OK this is a lot of money, but you really wish you had been involved with palantir? Like the company whose product is fascism?

To be fair, he actually did join Palantir a couple years later.

So he ceded both the early options and the moral high ground? Lose-lose.

Re: Downsides to working at a tech giant

#12

Post by thecleaner »

This vlog is more of a cheap advertisement for the "oh work for a startup it's great" nonsense school. I don't really understand why I would work in an environment where the pay is shit and the issued stocks can be re-classified or diluted or just taken away by lay-offs. Makes no sense.

Re: Downsides to working at a tech giant

#14

Post by gunshai »

Flipping the coin on survivor-ship bias here, I worked at a start up for 4 years that was going to "change the world". Came out with experience in all sorts of problems solved, projects implemented, customers reached, hell I even have some equity(not that it's worth much). I was young and wanted to work on problems I thought would have high impact, shit they did have large impact.

Yet when I left finally as a jack of all and a master of none. I essentially had to start completely over.

Re: Downsides to working at a tech giant

#15

Post by cmdshiftf4 »

How many countless others have invested years of their lives, in exchange for equity and comparatively low pay, in promising-sounding startups only to see those companies fail?

Should they be retroactively counting the money they could have had if they'd went to a more stable firm and had the same years of pay increases, bonuses, RSUs, etc. as a loss?

This is hollow clickbait, but the author is clearly intelligent enough to know that hence why it's mainly focused on a youtube video which I'm presuming he's doing in the name of trying to build an audience and "clout" for himself with.

Re: Downsides to working at a tech giant

#16

Post by thecleaner »

lordleft wrote: post #2

The simple truth is that working for the equity of an unproven start-up is a gamble, and statistically unlikely to pay off. And sadly more and more start-ups are undermining access to equity in shady ways. Not that one should never work for a start up on the hopes it breaks big, but we should also never forget that the successes are outliers, by a massive margin. Just understand the trade-offs of your decision and th…

I mean this is really not talked about more frequently. At this point, with all the shady tactics that most startups now pull, it would appear that only an idiot would really want to be swindled this way. Furthermore, this is not something that will go away since with less IPOs actually being successful and a mature tech market, hoarding the most value you can from your company seems to be in vogue these days.

Re: Downsides to working at a tech giant

#17

Post by ogre_codes »

My big mistake?

Not being buddies with Peter Thiel in 2003. Don't make my mistake, go back in time and be buddies with Peter Thiel in 2003.

Just the fact that he had a buddy who could cut him a check for $70,000 before his startup succeeded says a whole lot about the situation he was in. If you have a buddy who tosses around this kind of cash, your options are different from the options available to the overwhelming majority of us.

Re: Downsides to working at a tech giant

#19

Post by thaumasiotes »

nostromo wrote: post #10

Not buying Apple Stock in 1999 cost me $200M too. Not to mention what not picking those winning lottery numbers cost me...

It might not be too late for the lottery numbers!

I can't find it now, but I remember reading about a guy who was arrested in China for buying winning lottery numbers after they'd already been announced. The semi-surprising thing, to me, was that he did this more than once.

Seems like a clear example of when you should take the win, and then leave in dignified haste.

Re: Downsides to working at a tech giant

#20

Post by csomar »

> "Garry, "what are you doing at Microsoft? "You're wasting your time."

> "Garry, I'm so sure this is the right thing for you, "you need to quit your job right now."

How much does Pieter know the OP at the time? I'd probably be very wary working with someone with such a pitch.

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