4 ms·

If you're used to working at startup speed, just take a job. It'll seem easy, people will work way fewer hours, and at lower intensity, than you're used to, and

If you're used to working at startup speed, just take a job. It'll seem easy, people will work way fewer hours, and at lower intensity, than you're used to, and you'll catch up to them skill-wise in a few years. Don't beat yourself up too much. Source: was in same position 5 years ago. Email in sig if you want to grab a drink.

mikekij 9y ago
^This. Working at a big company is about 10% as hard as working at a startup as a founder (maybe less). HR people love applicants with an "entrepreneurial spirit", and founders are often great product managers at big companies. Give yourself 18 months to do a great job in that role, and spend 25% of your personal time looking for problems within that type of company that could be solved with technology. Build a prototype of a solution nights and weekends, raise a seed round, and then start a new company. (That's what I did).
- solresol 9y ago
  > HR people love applications with an "entrepreneurial spirit" This has been the exact opposite of my experience. I think HR is more likely to say "reject immediately, not an exact fit for the job we are looking for and anyway he or she will probably leave to start another startup soon"
  - mikekij 9y ago
    Interesting. Maybe it would have been more accurate to say my former managers loved an entrepreneurial spirit. Don't have as much experience with HR directly.
    - UK-AL 9y ago
      HR typically like people who have been doing the exact same job for the past 5 years. In the corporate world, its hard to change positions because you are type cast.
sixdimensional 9y ago
Unless you end up working in a big company, where people realize you have a wide range of skills, assign you too much work thinking you can do it all, and you end up working hard for the company and not for yourself.

4 ms·

If you're used to working at startup speed, just take a job. It'll seem easy, people will work way fewer hours, and at lower intensity, than you're used to, and

by eldavido 9y ago

mikekij 9y ago
^This. Working at a big company is about 10% as hard as working at a startup as a founder (maybe less). HR people love applicants with an "entrepreneurial spirit", and founders are often great product managers at big companies. Give yourself 18 months to do a great job in that role, and spend 25% of your personal time looking for problems within that type of company that could be solved with technology. Build a prototype of a solution nights and weekends, raise a seed round, and then start a new company. (That's what I did).
- solresol 9y ago
  > HR people love applications with an "entrepreneurial spirit" This has been the exact opposite of my experience. I think HR is more likely to say "reject immediately, not an exact fit for the job we are looking for and anyway he or she will probably leave to start another startup soon"
  - mikekij 9y ago
    Interesting. Maybe it would have been more accurate to say my former managers loved an entrepreneurial spirit. Don't have as much experience with HR directly.
    - UK-AL 9y ago
      HR typically like people who have been doing the exact same job for the past 5 years. In the corporate world, its hard to change positions because you are type cast.
sixdimensional 9y ago
Unless you end up working in a big company, where people realize you have a wide range of skills, assign you too much work thinking you can do it all, and you end up working hard for the company and not for yourself.