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throwaway account: When I left my job a few months ago, my total income from my employer to that point this year was over 400k. It includes payouts from my las

throwaway account: When I left my job a few months ago, my total income from my employer to that point this year was over 400k. It includes payouts from my last startup I sold, but this would have continued for the next year or so had i stayed. Since this is a financial article, I'll focus on financial stuff. Its anecdotal but I think the average financial return for doing a startup is slightly better overall, and probably decently better if you are highly intelligent and skilled overall. If you are not highly intelligent and skilled overall its possible working at a company is a better deal. Two questions to consider: Q1: Long term--what will open up more avenues of opportunity for me? In general I was not a very good corporate climber. Some ppl are. Some ppl aren't. I am not. I dress casually, speak colloquially and comparatively don't care too much about what other ppl think and don't like 9-5. Given I already have startup success, it was easy for me to decide startups are financially more lucrative for me. Why didn't I stay and wait for all my earnings to pay out? 1. I got most of it already 2. I'm not getting any younger 3. I found a great team that I wanted to start a company with. 4. The remaining cash would not change my life significantly. Given all of that, I decided I'd rather leave. Q2: Having been in your position when I was a bit younger and first starting out (relatively high paying job...didn't love it but i wasn't going to shoot myself), I'd ask myself the "bezos/jobs question" : When you are 80 and on your deathbed, your life flashing before you in your last days, will you look back and regret the decision you took to jump ship and do a startup? Imagine all sorts of realistic worst case scenarios....completely flops, you go bankrupt, waste 3 years of your life, gf leaves, mess up your health for a while...whatever is really bad but realistic. Does the 80 yr old regret the decision of doing the startup? If so, then thats fine. Don't do it. I think I would have balked if I had a mortgage, kids and no savings. However, in general people regret things they haven't done more than things that they did.

todd3834 16y ago
I really enjoyed this answer and would love to know more details, however I can understand why you are leaving out some of the details and posting from a throwaway account. I'm personally most interested in the idea for the new startup and that talent in the team that helped you make the decision to walk from the employer. Is there any way I could ask you a few questions? You can contact me since that is a throwaway account unless you have better things to do. ;-)
- starcraft_mania 16y ago
  Well we may end up ditching our idea after some initial customer feedback so the idea itself isn't too important. The team is definitely the most important. I've been looking for the last year. The advice has been oft repeated but here is my top criteria: - Get people who can, at the end of the day, do everything. - Get people who are better than you at something or multiple things (for example, coding, sales) - Get people who are awesome at as many things as possible. - Make sure your values and your expectations are in alignment about the endeavor. If one person expects VC funding and good pay to support a family and the other wants to go into ramen profitable mode it'll be tough. - Make sure they are not pansies. Some people who have succeeded all their lives will give up at the first sign of trouble for 'easier pastures'. As best you can, try to find people who have grit and determination. - If you're not sure, pass. Its alot cheaper to make the right decision than to have to divorce later.

todd3834 16y ago

I really enjoyed this answer and would love to know more details, however I can understand why you are leaving out some of the details and posting from a throwaway account. I'm personally most interested in the idea for the new startup and that talent in the team that helped you make the decision to walk from the employer. Is there any way I could ask you a few questions? You can contact me since that is a throwaway account unless you have better things to do. ;-)

starcraft_mania 16y ago
Well we may end up ditching our idea after some initial customer feedback so the idea itself isn't too important. The team is definitely the most important. I've been looking for the last year. The advice has been oft repeated but here is my top criteria: - Get people who can, at the end of the day, do everything. - Get people who are better than you at something or multiple things (for example, coding, sales) - Get people who are awesome at as many things as possible. - Make sure your values and your expectations are in alignment about the endeavor. If one person expects VC funding and good pay to support a family and the other wants to go into ramen profitable mode it'll be tough. - Make sure they are not pansies. Some people who have succeeded all their lives will give up at the first sign of trouble for 'easier pastures'. As best you can, try to find people who have grit and determination. - If you're not sure, pass. Its alot cheaper to make the right decision than to have to divorce later.