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How to get a job after your startup fails

jamesmaskell.co.uk

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Re: How to get a job after your startup fails

#31

Post by modoc »

sjtgraham wrote: post #17
Peroni wrote: post #2

5. 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…

Steve, does it really matter? Even if a super-talented developer only stays with you for say 6-12 months surely they would deliver enough value in that time to not make it a huge concern? Also, let's flip the question on its head, if a company can't hold on to talented, entrepreneurial staff, is it indicative of a problem with the staff or with the company? What's the common denominator here? What is better? Being fo…

That depends greatly on how deep the domain knowledge at your company is, and the level of investment you make in your employees. If it takes 3 months for a new hire to even start being mostly productive (more than 50% productive and less than 50% drain on mentors' time) and 6+ months before they're really productive (90+/10-%), then the equation is very different. If you invest $10,000/year in employee training and development, you don't really want people leaving after 6-12 months, etc...

yes a company should provide a good atmosphere and have employees who want to stay, but if you're coming in the door with the plan to get paid for 6 months and then quit and try another startup.... then you'd be a net loss for me to hire

Re: How to get a job after your startup fails

#32

Post by bgilroy26 »

ttrreeww wrote: post #30
rocky1138 wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This advice works best when the person you know is directly responsible for running the company but gets less and less useful the further you get from that point.

Actually, having someone refer you internally will almost guarantee an interview. It's super useful.

You're both right if Rocky meant a range in usefulness from 'virtual lock' to 'a really good shot'

Re: How to get a job after your startup fails

#33

Post by mseebach »

danielweber wrote: post #22
api wrote: post #13

I found that having a failed startup was good resume fodder to some extent. I was worth more in the marketplace after my failed startup, since I was perceived as having a more versatile skill set. (It helped that my failed startup, while financially a failure, was cool and helped me demo a lot of advanced coding skills. :) But I did run into a personal problem: after being a startupper, I found it very hard to transi…

I remember one particular job I interviewed for after leaving a start-up, and got asked various questions like "why did you fail?" and "working for that little money? That's stupid!" I always think of them as the perfect example of "the interview is for you to learn about the company and the company to learn about you."

So, if someone calls you stupid to your face in an interview, that's probably not a good place to work - so I'm guessing that was slightly a hyperbolic recollection.

That said, both questions can be turned around to your advantage: The first, show that you have learned from your mistakes and that's you're cool and focused in the face of adversity. The second, that you're not just a day labourer, but you're focused on and motivated by the long haul: "yes, it was a long shot, but if we'd succeeded, we'd change the way the world thinks about X".

Re: How to get a job after your startup fails

#34

Post by avenger123 »

bestest wrote: post #21

A whole article about THIS? How about: 1) Get a job. Fin. Or, could it be, that a startup failure descends upon one with such shocking repercussions, that one forgets how to tend for himself? Yeah, another shameless rant from me. It's just rather disappointing seeing such useful material on the front page, that is.

I found the article quite practical and useful.

It never hurts to put oneself in other person's shoes. It's called empathy, which I gather you may not have for people in this situation.

For someone that has shut down their business, emotionally it is very unsettling. Having to come to terms with the failure and at the same time looking at the next steps is not as simple as "Get a job". Granted, perhaps you would handle this situation without any issues but I would say for most of us, its good to read another person's experience (even if it seems "obvious").

The biggest issue I see is that as a failed startup founder, you have accept that there will be another day for another attempt (if that is still what one wants to do). You just have to reinforce the cavalry (ie. build up the finances, the mental resolve, etc.) and that could take time.

Re: How to get a job after your startup fails

#35

Post by rocky1138 »

bgilroy26 wrote: post #32
ttrreeww wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Actually, having someone refer you internally will almost guarantee an interview. It's super useful.

You're both right if Rocky meant a range in usefulness from 'virtual lock' to 'a really good shot'

Yep. Even the person in your pocket at the absolute bottom of the rung is still someone in your pocket.

Re: How to get a job after your startup fails

#36

Post by SatvikBeri »

jmaskell wrote: post #3
Peroni wrote: post #2

5. 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.

I found it helpful to say I wanted to spend at least 50% of my more time focusing on (programming/statistics/marketing/whatever the role was for), as compared to the very generalist role you have to play when owning your own business.

The emotional roller coaster is somewhat implicit in this, as some roles (e.g. customer-facing ones) are much more emotionally demanding than others.

Re: How to get a job after your startup fails

#37

Post by krmmalik »

I'm in a similar situation to the blog author, but unfortunately for me i really struggled to find a job. In all fair ess, there were one or two pieces of advice in the post that i hadn't followed, so worth considering, but at the same time, there are very few start-ups where i live. And i'm unable to re-locate due to personal circumstances. I've had a little bit of success with freelance work and consulting however, and i feel that is the way forward for me.

Well done to the blog author for keeping his chin up and turning things around for himself so quickly.

Re: How to get a job after your startup fails

#38

Post by danielweber »

mseebach wrote: post #33
danielweber wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I remember one particular job I interviewed for after leaving a start-up, and got asked various questions like "why did you fail?" and "working for that little money? That's stupid!" I always think of them as the perfect example of "the interview is for you to learn about the company and the company to learn about you."

So, if someone calls you stupid to your face in an interview, that's probably not a good place to work - so I'm guessing that was slightly a hyperbolic recollection. That said, both questions can be turned around to your advantage: The first, show that you have learned from your mistakes and that's you're cool and focused in the face of adversity. The second, that you're not just a day labourer, but you're focused on…

No, they really said "stupid." I must have blanched -- I've worked with difficult people and can tolerate a lot -- because he immediately tried to back away from it.

But, yeah, bad place to work. They went bankrupt and got delisted from the exchange about 2 years later. I will admit to feeling some schadenfreude at that.

Re: How to get a job after your startup fails

#39

Post by [deleted] »

Uchikoma wrote: post #19
jmaskell wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Unfortunately I'm not a programmer (I can write enough code to be dangerous) - but more of an ops/product/sales type person instead, so it was a bit harder for me to find something. I was also surprised at how long it took our developer to find a new role - he was extremely good, got first interviews quickly but it took companies a long time to make a decision. And we're in London, where those skills are in very high…

In Berlin we have two open ops positions ;-) " but it took companies a long time to make a decision" Yes, a lot of companies get that wrong, sometimes we do too. But we strive to have interviews as fast as possible and make decisions within a week, most often the same day as we do not consider it fair letting people wait on a decision (and it rarely gets better with time).

[deleted]

Re: How to get a job after your startup fails

#40

Post by hjay »

api wrote: post #13

I found that having a failed startup was good resume fodder to some extent. I was worth more in the marketplace after my failed startup, since I was perceived as having a more versatile skill set. (It helped that my failed startup, while financially a failure, was cool and helped me demo a lot of advanced coding skills. :) But I did run into a personal problem: after being a startupper, I found it very hard to transi…

For years, I felt that my failed startup was exactly that. A failure, and an embarrassment. Recently, I took to writing about it, hoping that simply having it written down would change my perspective. It did.

I was looking for a job change, and I used this chance to add that failure to my resume. It is a part of my history, whether or not I personally felt that it was a failure. Surprisingly, the instant I sent out my new resume to companies (I previously left it out due to shame), I was invited for interviews with MUCH greater success, and got a few decent offers. Of course, the companies I applied to were different from the ones previously, so I cannot say for sure that putting the startup had a better result, but it seems to be true.

Even during interviews, employees at these companies seemed to light up when discussing my experience with my failed startup. It has allowed me to value those 3 years much more, and no longer look back on it and hide it in shame.

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