Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Why Entrepreneurs Hate Working at Big Companies

trevorowens.tumblr.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

11–20 of 50 posts

Re: Why Entrepreneurs Hate Working at Big Companies

#11

Post by guylhem »

hkmurakami wrote: post #10
guylhem wrote: post #7

It is that simple : if I really trust my idea to be so good, why waste my time with a system that will at best not fight against my idea, and will not let me reap the full benefits of it? If I success, I'd rather keep everything (or most of it!) for myself! There is a very small subset of problems, where, needing some very specific resources for my project, it is more logical to seek them from within an existing corp…

>I could live with the idea of japanese-style corporation, where loyalty goes both ways. It would be logical then to accept the idea of sharing in a system where others will share with you. IMO there are very few companies even in Japan who are truly like this anymore.

A social contract is a good thing, but I don't need a corporation. I can make a free choice.

Yet even if I like the concept of workers being compensated at their marginal productivity, it's a sad thing this choice will no longer exist for most of the people who are now graduating, and that entrepreneurship becomes a choice by default.

Diversity (as in having many choices - to work for a big company or for yourself) usually is a good thing.

Of course, you may still work for a big company, but if you know you are to be poorly treated anyway, while bother doing more than the bare minimum? If you have a good idea, why bother sharing its profits?

Re: Why Entrepreneurs Hate Working at Big Companies

#13

Post by blackhole »

This article has the right idea, but is obsessed with money. Money is not the fundamental motivator for all entrepreneurs. There are plenty of people who would rather work for themselves and barely be able to pay rent for the rest of their lives rather than work for a large company simply because they will be more happy doing what they love and barely managing to feed themselves than they will doing something they hate and having all the money they ever wanted. They don't care about the money, they care about doing what they love to do. So long as they can feed themselves and find a roof to sleep under, being able to work on something they love to do will trump everything else.

Re: Why Entrepreneurs Hate Working at Big Companies

#14

Post by marssaxman »

nichodges wrote: post #6

As someone in a 'big company', I'm often frustrated (although not surprise) that entrepreneurs seem to see this is a binary problem. This piece did touch on the real issue startup founders have with big companies - but only touched on it. The issue is not compensation, the issue is an inability to understand how to traverse the system in order to execute and achieve what you want (and that can include 10x returns). T…

Is it really an "inability to understand", or just an "unwillingness to tolerate"?

Re: Why Entrepreneurs Hate Working at Big Companies

#15

Post by trevor99 »

blackhole wrote: post #13

This article has the right idea, but is obsessed with money. Money is not the fundamental motivator for all entrepreneurs. There are plenty of people who would rather work for themselves and barely be able to pay rent for the rest of their lives rather than work for a large company simply because they will be more happy doing what they love and barely managing to feed themselves than they will doing something they ha…

I didn't intend it to be about money. I also said that entrepreneurs want a 1% shot at ruling the world (king vs. rich). It's really about perception of control and perception of fairness around hard work.

Re: Why Entrepreneurs Hate Working at Big Companies

#16

Post by phillmv »

>The answer is compensation. Not that big companies don’t compensate them enough, but that the compensation structure is not aligned with an entrepreneur’s world view.

As far as I can tell the dominating decision factor for everyone I know who runs their own company seems to be "freedom from management". That's why people work for years at an expected value of a below-market wage. That's why people leave a year into their four year vesting schedule post-acquisition.

In the anglo corporate culture there is little to no room for co-determination; and I would wager that's especially grating to those in the position to do something about it.

Re: Why Entrepreneurs Hate Working at Big Companies

#17

Post by Matt_Mickiewicz »

clobber wrote: post #8

The word "entrepreneur" is getting used as a blanket term way too much to the point that anyone with an idea, CRUD app or working at a startup is an "entrepreneur."

Agreed.

Way too many people start a company these days because they want "Founder", "CTO" or "CEO" title... rather than because they see a real need and want to solve a real problem.

The fact that anybody with Google or Stanford on their resume can raise a $500K or $750K seed round doesn't help things either.

Re: Why Entrepreneurs Hate Working at Big Companies

#18

Post by trevor99 »

phillmv wrote: post #16

>The answer is compensation. Not that big companies don’t compensate them enough, but that the compensation structure is not aligned with an entrepreneur’s world view. As far as I can tell the dominating decision factor for everyone I know who runs their own company seems to be "freedom from management". That's why people work for years at an expected value of a below-market wage. That's why people leave a year into…

that's what a lot of people say, but I think it's more of an excuse/laziness around explaining the actual problem. any entrepreneur who raises a series A will be managed by his investors. if he is not the CEO he will be managed by the CEO and the investors/board.

Re: Why Entrepreneurs Hate Working at Big Companies

#19

Post by phillmv »

trevor99 wrote: post #18
phillmv wrote: post #16

>The answer is compensation. Not that big companies don’t compensate them enough, but that the compensation structure is not aligned with an entrepreneur’s world view. As far as I can tell the dominating decision factor for everyone I know who runs their own company seems to be "freedom from management". That's why people work for years at an expected value of a below-market wage. That's why people leave a year into…

that's what a lot of people say, but I think it's more of an excuse/laziness around explaining the actual problem. any entrepreneur who raises a series A will be managed by his investors. if he is not the CEO he will be managed by the CEO and the investors/board.

You will always have to compromise with people. That will never go away. But the social relationship between you and your investors - and definitely not with your fellow c-levels or co-founders - will never be quite like to that between a regular employee and their boss.

Your mileage may vary if you're on the brink of collapse, of course.

Re: Why Entrepreneurs Hate Working at Big Companies

#20

Post by jmilinion »

I disagree. Many entrepreneurs would love to work for a big company IF they were at the controls and not the cogs.

Steve Jobs. He had full control over Apple and could tell it to build whatever he wanted. He worked for a big company. From what I've read, he was happy working there.

Larry Page and Sergey Brin, they seem happy working for a big company.

Larry Ellison loves working for Oracle. I have yet to hear any disappointment from him about working for a big company.

All in all, I think many entrepreneurs would love working at big companies - as long as they are in the top 1% of the company who have control over the rest.

Post reply on HN