My experiences were a while back (I was in academic research from '89 to '95) - I left to co-found a startup in '95 and did OK. I've never regretted leaving ac

My experiences were a while back (I was in academic research from '89 to '95) - I left to co-found a startup in '95 and did OK. I've never regretted leaving academia for a single moment - that's not to say I don't have fond memories and I learned a lot there but ultimately I have always liked building stuff and ultimately that's only worth it if people get value from what you build. I knew a lot of great people in academia - but I was conscious that there was very much a game to be played (as is the case everywhere) and the game from what I could see wasn't one that interested me.