How to get a job after your startup fails
jamesmaskell.co.uk
How to get a job after your startup fails
1–10 of 43 posts
Re: How to get a job after your startup fails
#25. Be clear about wanting to work for someone else
I think this particular point requires a bit more emphasis. I work for a large development company that requires me to source the top technical talent in the UK. A significant number of highly talented individuals are currently running their own start-ups which is understandable. Regardless of how brilliant a developer may be, that's not a guarantee of success and there will come a point where some of those startups fail and the founders will have to go find a 'regular job'.
The number one concern I have when I'm in discussions with a failed startup founder is how long they will stick with us before coming up with another brilliant idea and leaving us to go give it another shot.
I'm more likely to relax when a potential employee tells me that for the next couple of years they simply want to focus on a 'regular job' and maybe revisit the startup idea further down the line. Unfortunately the onus is almost entirely on the developer/start-up founder to place the employers mind at ease.
Re: How to get a job after your startup fails
#35. Be clear about wanting to work for someone else I think this particular point requires a bit more emphasis. I work for a large development company that requires me to source the top technical talent in the UK. A significant number of highly talented individuals are currently running their own start-ups which is understandable. Regardless of how brilliant a developer may be, that's not a guarantee of success and th…
I got this a lot. I think it was the cause of me not getting a few job offers. It's good to pre-empt the concern and be clear about wanting to take what you learnt on to another project.
What I found hardest was trying to explain that I also didn't want the stress and emotional ride of running a company for a while - without coming across as lazy or unmotivated.
Re: How to get a job after your startup fails
#45. Be clear about wanting to work for someone else I think this particular point requires a bit more emphasis. I work for a large development company that requires me to source the top technical talent in the UK. A significant number of highly talented individuals are currently running their own start-ups which is understandable. Regardless of how brilliant a developer may be, that's not a guarantee of success and th…
I got this a lot. I think it was the cause of me not getting a few job offers. It's good to pre-empt the concern and be clear about wanting to take what you learnt on to another project. What I found hardest was trying to explain that I also didn't want the stress and emotional ride of running a company for a while - without coming across as lazy or unmotivated.
Your last point is a great litmus test. Startups are stressful and emotional by nature, not to mention the ridiculous time commitment required.
Any company that fails to empathise with that is a company worth avoiding.
Re: How to get a job after your startup fails
#5Just for fun and to hopefully one day avoid failing in a startup, I like to do post mortems. What I understood of Vinetrade is it struggled to make any income in a market which isn't comfortable right now trading online.
1. 2/12 Launches vinetrade
2. It manages wine portfolios
3. Raises funding
Getting funding so early is an indication that early profitability was probably not the main focus. Can give a false sense of success and idea validation.
4. People already trade wine but are not using an online service to do it yet
If this is your first startup, don't try and revolutionise an industry. Let someone else blow the money and make the mistakes first. Be a fast follower instead.
5. JM talks about building an MVP
Vinetrade should be your product? Another indication of not focusing on achieving profitability and a good revenue model and pricing structure early on.
6. 3/13 Closes vinetrade. Mentions it would have needed more funding.
Funding focus again an indication of lack of focus on early idea validation through profitability.
Re: How to get a job after your startup fails
#6Just for fun and to hopefully one day avoid failing in a startup, I like to do post mortems. What I understood of Vinetrade is it struggled to make any income in a market which isn't comfortable right now trading online. 1. 2/12 Launches vinetrade 2. It manages wine portfolios 3. Raises funding Getting funding so early is an indication that early profitability was probably not the main focus. Can give a false sense o…
The struggle was more around scaling the business. We had income, and raised some seed funding on the back of it (in order to go full time on the project). We didn't take further investment because we knew we couldn't scale and provide the return that investors would have wanted.
While running Vinetrade, I learnt a lot about testing ideas and getting validation with minimal effort. The MVP post was about some of these lessons. If I was starting again, I'd get that validation much more quickly (but it would likely be the same early validation again).
Re: How to get a job after your startup fails
#7Just for fun and to hopefully one day avoid failing in a startup, I like to do post mortems. What I understood of Vinetrade is it struggled to make any income in a market which isn't comfortable right now trading online. 1. 2/12 Launches vinetrade 2. It manages wine portfolios 3. Raises funding Getting funding so early is an indication that early profitability was probably not the main focus. Can give a false sense o…
The struggle was more around scaling the business. We had income, and raised some seed funding on the back of it (in order to go full time on the project). We didn't take further investment because we knew we couldn't scale and provide the return that investors would have wanted. While running Vinetrade, I learnt a lot about testing ideas and getting validation with minimal effort. The MVP post was about some of thes…
But if it made enough money to keep yourself and the others in a job then why ever declare it as a failure? Unless it didn't make enough money?
Re: How to get a job after your startup fails
#8Earlier quoted context omitted.
The struggle was more around scaling the business. We had income, and raised some seed funding on the back of it (in order to go full time on the project). We didn't take further investment because we knew we couldn't scale and provide the return that investors would have wanted. While running Vinetrade, I learnt a lot about testing ideas and getting validation with minimal effort. The MVP post was about some of thes…
But if it made enough money to keep yourself and the others in a job then why ever declare it as a failure? Unless it didn't make enough money?
It didn't make enough to support the team. There was an argument for running it as a side project / one man business, but that wasn't something that I wanted to do (and investors supported/advised when making that decision).
Re: How to get a job after your startup fails
#9Earlier quoted context omitted.
But if it made enough money to keep yourself and the others in a job then why ever declare it as a failure? Unless it didn't make enough money?
It didn't make enough to support the team. There was an argument for running it as a side project / one man business, but that wasn't something that I wanted to do (and investors supported/advised when making that decision).
Cool, thanks for being open about it
Re: How to get a job after your startup fails
#10It heavily depends on the market. When my startup failed in 200x after popping of the dotcom bubble, the market for programmers was terrible and I was lucky to get a job at a state funded research institute.
Comparing this to today, where I get at least one offer a week, this was completely different.