So what they're saying is, if you have "I worked at a startup" on your resume, this will make VCs more likely to give you money.
Straightforward enough.
Want to found a startup? Work at one first
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Re: Want to found a startup? Work at one first
#72Counterpoint: I have seen some very bad habits carried over by founders from growing companies. Success isn't always the result of excellence. Also, many founders that worked in somewhat larger environments before tend to rush into 'mature' processes long before their benefits outweigh their costs. This almost always grinds progress to a halt, creates a ton of middle management and other non-productive overhead in a…
Now imagine absolutely inexperienced founders and external senior management. You have a total lack of knowledge around how to run an org combined with the urge to rush into super-mature organisations. That is fun...
Re: Want to found a startup? Work at one first
#73Contra a lot of popular belief here: I don’t understand how working as an engineer (because this is always what seems to be implied) will improve your odds at starting a startup.
Working as an engineer, and kickstarting a business are two very different jobs.
Even in practice successful tech startup founders seems to be 40 yos with a background in management consulting. So I really wonder where do people get the idea that working as an engineer is a path towards entrepreneurship.
EDIT: and it’s rather ironic that the author doesn’t himself run his own startup.
Re: Want to found a startup? Work at one first
#74I've worked at multiple startups sub 50 to >1000 (unicorn status) and have founded and sold my own company. I've also worked at a few of the FAANGs. This is common advice, especially among VCs since it's one of the key benefits used to pitch prospective employees on giving up that fat FAANG salary, but in my personal experience, it's not so cut and dry. Working in a startup will brand you as a startup person and help…
I agree. I joined a few smaller startups and saw plenty about how NOT to do things. Only one I joined a larger company did I feel happier (in hindsight). And now if I went back to a startup, I’d feel more confident about whether the company is run poorly and how much I can help it.
Some problems are organizational immaturity and can be fixed. Some problems come from leadership and won’t change as long as those leaders are there.
Re: Want to found a startup? Work at one first
#75I think a better framing would be: Want to found a company? Work at one first.
Every startup is different. A bootstrapped startup that has to be cashflow positive from day one is different than one built on an initial investment.
Having work experience also means you can better understand if a startup model is actually appropriate for what you're trying to build. Startups in the sense that VCs use the term are high risk high reward and optimize growth for a high ROI exit. This is great if you want to take the gamble for a chance to retire at 35, not so great if you just want a fulfilling work life or can't afford to loose.
The quickest way to tank a startup is to run out of money, yours or your investors'. I guess if you want to optimize for outcomes, the best advice would simply be: Want to found a startup? Be wealthy. But that doesn't make for a good blog post.
Re: Want to found a startup? Work at one first
#76My experience at a few startups does not align but I support the overall thesis. More than one startup talked a big game in hiring about the product, the customers and the culture only to be more of a cult of personality where decisions were made in private between cofounders despite being an "open" company, unequal pay despite "transparent" salaries with bands, a lack of managerial skills or care for personnel manag…
Last suggestion deserves a caveat. Unless more than 5% of your revenue will unconditionally require SOC2, you should avoid doing it and accept the small revenue hit. But you are correct, if you do need it, you should do it as early as you can and buy it out of the box as much as you can. I recommend Tugboat Logic for this.
That's true!
For those that do not know, an audit is going to cost AT LEAST $20k but the total cost could be more than $50k (certainly more if you are paying market rate and you account for the team's time to pull everything together). And the requirements can cause side effect costs (penetration tests, etc).
Re: Want to found a startup? Work at one first
#77Does anyone care anymore about just having five kids and a backyard and a loving spouse and a wall full of books and solid church community? I'm so tired of people just trying to make money.
Re: Want to found a startup? Work at one first
#78This is like half the sell from start up ceos. "Want to start your own company someday? Come here and get paid to learn how to do that."
As many other have said... You might learn how to run a start up but its just as likely you will be able to see mistakes the company you joined made and hopefully be able to prevent your company from making those same ones.
Re: Want to found a startup? Work at one first
#79I've worked at multiple startups sub 50 to >1000 (unicorn status) and have founded and sold my own company. I've also worked at a few of the FAANGs. This is common advice, especially among VCs since it's one of the key benefits used to pitch prospective employees on giving up that fat FAANG salary, but in my personal experience, it's not so cut and dry. Working in a startup will brand you as a startup person and help…
There really are millions of lessons to be learned though, not just the “how to be successful”. If all you did was working at a big corp or at a FAANG you will run into tons of issues which you will have to deal with at the same time as founder-related issues.
Re: Want to found a startup? Work at one first
#80Counterpoint: I have seen some very bad habits carried over by founders from growing companies. Success isn't always the result of excellence. Also, many founders that worked in somewhat larger environments before tend to rush into 'mature' processes long before their benefits outweigh their costs. This almost always grinds progress to a halt, creates a ton of middle management and other non-productive overhead in a…
Even as a solo founder who’s worked at startups and large companies and knew to avoid this, I still did many mature/best practices that have slowed me down. I haven't discarded them, but I definitely set many of them aside until later.