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For me, the way I thought about it was a bit different. When I did YC I had already worked at Google for a while, and the question I was asking myself was less
by lacker 6y ago
For me, the way I thought about it was a bit different. When I did YC I had already worked at Google for a while, and the question I was asking myself was less "do I want to be a founder?" and more "is starting a company something I ever want to try out, in a career that will probably span decades?" If you've had jobs you liked in the past, and you figure that you can probably find those jobs again, and you don't immediately need the big company salary, what is a startup really risking? The worst case is that you work on it for a year or so, it goes nowhere, and you go back to work somewhere else. You miss out on some money but you're going to learn something new in any case.
- 8f2ab37a-ed6c 6y agoSame here. I wanted to know what it was like to have all of that responsibility on my shoulders. I felt like my career was moving at a snail pace within BigTechCo and I was capable of much more. There's no real risk in that situation, unless you're borderline destitute, have dependents who need you, have a serious medical condition that requires a high end employer to support you etc. Even if you fail, you will have learned many valuable skills and perspectives, and might get hired at your previous employer with a better title.