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I'm a senior at Yale. I'm pursuing a start-up after graduation rather than a banking/consulting job. I'm certainly afraid of what the future holds. I'd be lyin

by waxman 16y ago

I'm a senior at Yale. I'm pursuing a start-up after graduation rather than a banking/consulting job. I'm certainly afraid of what the future holds. I'd be lying if I said I wasn't. And this fear almost had me applying to McKinsey and Goldman (along with 30% of my class). But in the end I realized that doing something I'm deeply passionate about (hacking) far outweighs any of the apparent benefits of a cushy Wall Street gig. I think it's time for me to stop worrying about leaving doors open, and start sprinting through one. Maybe I'll end up choosing the wrong door, but I'm confident that I'll learn more at that pace and with that passion than I ever would have in the monotony of a chic midtown office. I've never been so scared in my life. But I've never been so hungry. We'll see how it goes. (Btw, incidentally, my brother (one year younger) is interning on Wall Street this year. I'm interested to compare notes...)

megablast 16y ago
See, now why not take that wall street job for a few years? You would have extra capital to spend time working on your startup, maybe make some good contacts, and maybe seek an insight into a world that could really benefit from a startup-wannabes insights. All the time, you could be looking at someway to make their job easier -> there is your startup.
- ericd 16y ago
  I would say that this is a good strategy, except that sales to banks is likely to be very high touch, and they are strongly infected with Not Invented Here syndrome. They have extreme security needs and large IT/programming departments, so I think it would be hard to find a niche that they would be willing to buy. I strongly agree with the building up capital thing, though. If you can save up 50k, and you can handle everything yourself, your runway becomes extremely long. Just have to be careful not to get addicted to the salary.
  - jrockway 16y ago
    Speaking from anecdotal experience, this is not true. As an example, I heard some employees from the company I worked at left to start a company to make messaging software. They ended up with a half-broken IRC client with a terrible UI and no features. They then sold it to the bank for millions of dollars. If it's expensive, banks like it. Quality is a plus, but not required.
    - megablast 16y ago
      And surely having worked at a bank is a huge advantage. Especially if you go in there with the intention of finding some area to help them out with, and network like hell.
    - ericd 16y ago
      It was my impression when I was interning at Citi (quant/strategy/trading) that they weren't very experimental buyers, and frequently liked to reinvent the wheel. They certainly didn't redo EVERYTHING. Besides that, there aren't that many big banks to sell to. I'd say it's trickier than average to get a market fit. But maybe you're right that they'll buy any old crap.

by waxman 16y ago

megablast 16y ago

See, now why not take that wall street job for a few years? You would have extra capital to spend time working on your startup, maybe make some good contacts, and maybe seek an insight into a world that could really benefit from a startup-wannabes insights. All the time, you could be looking at someway to make their job easier -> there is your startup.

ericd 16y ago
I would say that this is a good strategy, except that sales to banks is likely to be very high touch, and they are strongly infected with Not Invented Here syndrome. They have extreme security needs and large IT/programming departments, so I think it would be hard to find a niche that they would be willing to buy. I strongly agree with the building up capital thing, though. If you can save up 50k, and you can handle everything yourself, your runway becomes extremely long. Just have to be careful not to get addicted to the salary.
- jrockway 16y ago
  Speaking from anecdotal experience, this is not true. As an example, I heard some employees from the company I worked at left to start a company to make messaging software. They ended up with a half-broken IRC client with a terrible UI and no features. They then sold it to the bank for millions of dollars. If it's expensive, banks like it. Quality is a plus, but not required.
  - megablast 16y ago
    And surely having worked at a bank is a huge advantage. Especially if you go in there with the intention of finding some area to help them out with, and network like hell.
  - ericd 16y ago
    It was my impression when I was interning at Citi (quant/strategy/trading) that they weren't very experimental buyers, and frequently liked to reinvent the wheel. They certainly didn't redo EVERYTHING. Besides that, there aren't that many big banks to sell to. I'd say it's trickier than average to get a market fit. But maybe you're right that they'll buy any old crap.