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Why you should join a big company first

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Re: Why you should join a big company first

#21

Post by nostrademons »

pg wrote: post #13

I used to advise people to go work for an existing company for a few years before trying to start their own, but I now think that was bad advice. It's true that you learn things working for a big company, but you learn more, faster, starting your own. A lot of people we've funded have said they wished they'd quit their corporate job sooner. I don't remember any saying they wished they'd stayed in it longer. The one p…

You're getting a biased sample at YC, because everybody who wishes they'd stayed at their corporate job longer stays at the corporate job. Or they wash out and go back to corporate life before applying to YC, or you sense their lack of passion for their startup at the interview stage and don't let them in. Corporate life, after all, is the "default" choice, the one that doesn't take any particular decision to make.

If I had to advise people, I'd say "It's time to do a startup when you have more trouble concentrating on your job because you're distracted by your startup idea than you have trouble concentrating on your startup because you're distracted by your job." That comes at different times for different people, and it's not uncommon for someone to bounce between the two of them multiple times during their lifetime. Above all, I don't think it's a binary choice: it's silly to think in terms of "I'm a startup person" or "I'm a big company person", you should evaluate every opportunity available to you on its own merits rather than relying on your preconceptions of what you think it'll be like.

Re: Why you should join a big company first

#22

Post by bippi »

I don't know that startup vs. big matters as much as small vs. big. If you can work for a profitable small company where you matter and you wear many many hats, you will be far better prepared to make an impact on your own if/when you do start your own company.

Re: Why you should join a big company first

#23

Post by sillysaurus2 »

pg wrote: post #13

I used to advise people to go work for an existing company for a few years before trying to start their own, but I now think that was bad advice. It's true that you learn things working for a big company, but you learn more, faster, starting your own. A lot of people we've funded have said they wished they'd quit their corporate job sooner. I don't remember any saying they wished they'd stayed in it longer. The one p…

What are the advantages of being an employee of a startup vs an employee of a big corporation, besides working with smart people?

Re: Why you should join a big company first

#24

Post by nostromo »

This attitude is Seattle's m.o. and I think it's unfortunate.

Recently I was talking with a CS advisor at the UW, my alma mater, and "corporate first, startup later" seems to be their default advice to students. His advice gave me the impression the UW was now a staging ground for Microsoft and Google lifers. Contrast this with Stanford's embracing of early entrepreneurship and risk-taking, and you get a sense for what makes Silicon Valley Silicon Valley.

Re: Why you should join a big company first

#25

Post by mjn »

pg wrote: post #13

I used to advise people to go work for an existing company for a few years before trying to start their own, but I now think that was bad advice. It's true that you learn things working for a big company, but you learn more, faster, starting your own. A lot of people we've funded have said they wished they'd quit their corporate job sooner. I don't remember any saying they wished they'd stayed in it longer. The one p…

> So if you want to focus on other things besides work, you're better off with a regular job than trying to start a startup.

Or, alternately: if you're a rational agent interested in maximizing risk-adjusted returns, you're better off with a regular job than trying to start a startup.

Re: Why you should join a big company first

#26

Post by null_ptr »

I think more and more young talented developers choose to work for small cool companies or even attempt to start their own, instead of choosing to be a cog at a corporate giant. And this probably has the giants worried.

It's true that corporate experience is useful, but it can also cause depression and frustration, seeing your youth fleeting while you implement inconsequential features and fix trivial defects in a mammoth project you couldn't possibly be more emotionally detached from.

Get out as soon as it makes sense and not a moment later.

Re: Why you should join a big company first

#27

Post by mjn »

nostromo wrote: post #24

This attitude is Seattle's m.o. and I think it's unfortunate. Recently I was talking with a CS advisor at the UW, my alma mater, and "corporate first, startup later" seems to be their default advice to students. His advice gave me the impression the UW was now a staging ground for Microsoft and Google lifers. Contrast this with Stanford's embracing of early entrepreneurship and risk-taking, and you get a sense for wh…

I'd be interested in some numbers as far as Stanford goes. If we restrict it to students who don't come from already well-off families who can backstop a risky career (say, look at students from families making <$100k/yr), what proportion get a salaried job right out of school? I would be surprised if it's <90%.

Re: Why you should join a big company first

#28

Post by Domenic_S »

Apocryphon wrote: post #18

What really is a startup, these days? A handful of hackers in a garage or a co-working space? Somewhere established but still youthful and fresh- Path? Square? Quora? Someplace much older but with a sense of dynamism and a startup ethos- Google? Apple?

If there's a chance your paycheck won't clear, it's a startup.

/I kid, I kid. Sort of.

Re: Why you should join a big company first

#29

Post by mrmaddog »

pg wrote: post #13

I used to advise people to go work for an existing company for a few years before trying to start their own, but I now think that was bad advice. It's true that you learn things working for a big company, but you learn more, faster, starting your own. A lot of people we've funded have said they wished they'd quit their corporate job sooner. I don't remember any saying they wished they'd stayed in it longer. The one p…

What are your thoughts on joining a big company vs joining a startup (as opposed to starting a company yourself)? On average, it seems one would still learn faster and be able to take on many new roles as an employee at a startup, but an employe also is in a chaotic world that he or she doesn't completely control (and often working with incomplete information).

Do you think this trade-off is worth it? And, since I'm guessing you lean towards 'yes' on that question, do you think there are different questions a prospective startup-employee should ask as opposed to the questions a potential investor in the startup would ask?

Re: Why you should join a big company first

#30

Post by jaredsohn »

Apocryphon wrote: post #18

What really is a startup, these days? A handful of hackers in a garage or a co-working space? Somewhere established but still youthful and fresh- Path? Square? Quora? Someplace much older but with a sense of dynamism and a startup ethos- Google? Apple?

http://www.paulgraham.com/growth.html
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