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While I appreciate the effort, I stopped reading at "quitting my job at Google". People starting a business after working a few years for a FAANGish company ar

by k__ 6y ago

While I appreciate the effort, I stopped reading at "quitting my job at Google". People starting a business after working a few years for a FAANGish company are like people with rich parents. They begin their startup journey with much more than the rest of us. --edit-- Sorry, guess I'm just jealous of people who start with parents/insurance money, FAANG mentoring/compensation, or such.

hello_moto 6y ago
> People starting a business after working a few years for a FAANGish company are like people with rich parents. They begin their startup journey with much more than the rest of us. I think his situation is different. He didn't ask for VC money. He didn't have tons of "business" experience. He didn't invented GMail like Paul Buchheit. He didn't have "networking" advantages built and ready to serve him post-Google. I don't know him other than from his blog but I can relate because he started from zero (aside from his software development skill) after quitting his job. He shared his journey: trying to figure things out as he goes along. I mean... he worked for Google, "cool job, bro!". But have you ever worked for a BigCo before? The moment you're out, there's no safety net. All the infrastructure (software, hardware, HR, knowledge base, etc) is taken away from you. > FAANG mentoring What FAANG mentoring are we talking about? He reads available books out there just like the rest of us man...
- k__ 6y ago
  FAANG companies have smarter people than average and these smart people mentor their new emoloyees. So you learn in a few years what could take you a decade on your own.
  - hello_moto 6y ago
    > FAANG companies have smarter people than average and these smart people mentor their new emoloyees. You clearly put FAANG on a higher pedestal than they should be... There's this thing called "politics" that exist almost everywhere. The mentoring that they get pertains to their job (e.g.: "Company-X" Python Code best practice, "Company-Y" Deployment checklists). They don't get mentored how to run your own startup, find product/market fit, etc. FAANG companies are "huge". They hire specialists: "developer" not "developer, marketing, biz-dev, QA, ops, rolled under one hat".
anononom123 6y ago
People who read the whole article begin their comment journey with more as well...
tristanperry 6y ago
In my experiences so far, people's wealth often has nothing to do with business success. I say often because of course a tiny fraction of wealthy people are successful after spending an inherited fortune, but more often than not success seems to be genuinely earned through hard work and trial and error. The 'rich parents' argument seems like the same cop-out as "it takes money to make money" rubbish that people still spout today. After all, it's never been easier to build a business from nothing (starting a YouTube/Insta/TikTok channel or a free blog). People just need to put their already-owned smartphone or laptop to good use.
- k__ 6y ago
  I believe that more kids of rich parents burn their money than making more with it. I don't believe that money isn't a major reason that people are successful.
- Ma8ee 6y ago
  In the sense that you need less capital today to be industrious than maybe ever before, you are absolutely right. You don't have to invest a lot of money to build a factory or pay for inventory. But even being in a position like Michael Lynch to be able to not having to work for your sustenance for three years means that you already are very privileged.
  - username90 6y ago
    A privilege you can get pretty quickly if you are a bright person who work hard.
    - Ma8ee 6y ago
      Ok. Explain how this works for me. How did I get my well paying job to make it possible to save enough money without being privileged? How did I get a college degree for free? How did I all on my own, without any help or support from rich or well educated parents get accepted to a good school?
mtlynch 6y ago
Thanks for this feedback! You're right that I'm in an extremely lucky position, and I likely would not have experienced the success I've had so far without several unfair advantages I hold. Google taught me a lot that would be hard to learn elsewhere, and I also have enough savings that I can try and fail many times without it mattering, and very few people have that luxury. I try to be cognizant of that in my writing and avoid making it sound like what I'm doing is easy or accessible to the average person. That said, I can only write about the experiences I've had, advantages or not. As much as possible, I try to share what I did and learned and not tell anyone else what they should do.
- k__ 6y ago
  Sure thing. You lost much money, but you could afford it, because you saved when you worked at Google. That's usually the point I think "oh, one of those again". I mean, there is much to learn from you burning money that I don't have, but it always feels a bit disillusoning to me. So again, sorry for calling that out.
ronyfadel 6y ago
It's true, I'm ex-FAANG and although I don't have much saved (worked in Europe), having it on your CV pretty much guarantees you a job in tech. That being said, it doesn't mean: 1) you should stop reading just because he worked at FAANG. 2) you can't take risks because you didn't work at FAANG. The risk/opportunity cost is the same if not more: if he makes $300k from a product, it's less than he would have made at his previous job at Google perhaps.

by k__ 6y ago

hello_moto 6y ago

> People starting a business after working a few years for a FAANGish company are like people with rich parents. They begin their startup journey with much more than the rest of us. I think his situation is different. He didn't ask for VC money. He didn't have tons of "business" experience. He didn't invented GMail like Paul Buchheit. He didn't have "networking" advantages built and ready to serve him post-Google. I don't know him other than from his blog but I can relate because he started from zero (aside from his software development skill) after quitting his job. He shared his journey: trying to figure things out as he goes along. I mean... he worked for Google, "cool job, bro!". But have you ever worked for a BigCo before? The moment you're out, there's no safety net. All the infrastructure (software, hardware, HR, knowledge base, etc) is taken away from you. > FAANG mentoring What FAANG mentoring are we talking about? He reads available books out there just like the rest of us man...

k__ 6y ago
FAANG companies have smarter people than average and these smart people mentor their new emoloyees. So you learn in a few years what could take you a decade on your own.
- hello_moto 6y ago
  > FAANG companies have smarter people than average and these smart people mentor their new emoloyees. You clearly put FAANG on a higher pedestal than they should be... There's this thing called "politics" that exist almost everywhere. The mentoring that they get pertains to their job (e.g.: "Company-X" Python Code best practice, "Company-Y" Deployment checklists). They don't get mentored how to run your own startup, find product/market fit, etc. FAANG companies are "huge". They hire specialists: "developer" not "developer, marketing, biz-dev, QA, ops, rolled under one hat".

anononom123 6y ago

People who read the whole article begin their comment journey with more as well...

tristanperry 6y ago

In my experiences so far, people's wealth often has nothing to do with business success. I say often because of course a tiny fraction of wealthy people are successful after spending an inherited fortune, but more often than not success seems to be genuinely earned through hard work and trial and error. The 'rich parents' argument seems like the same cop-out as "it takes money to make money" rubbish that people still spout today. After all, it's never been easier to build a business from nothing (starting a YouTube/Insta/TikTok channel or a free blog). People just need to put their already-owned smartphone or laptop to good use.

k__ 6y ago
I believe that more kids of rich parents burn their money than making more with it. I don't believe that money isn't a major reason that people are successful.
Ma8ee 6y ago
In the sense that you need less capital today to be industrious than maybe ever before, you are absolutely right. You don't have to invest a lot of money to build a factory or pay for inventory. But even being in a position like Michael Lynch to be able to not having to work for your sustenance for three years means that you already are very privileged.
- username90 6y ago
  A privilege you can get pretty quickly if you are a bright person who work hard.
  - Ma8ee 6y ago
    Ok. Explain how this works for me. How did I get my well paying job to make it possible to save enough money without being privileged? How did I get a college degree for free? How did I all on my own, without any help or support from rich or well educated parents get accepted to a good school?

mtlynch 6y ago

Thanks for this feedback! You're right that I'm in an extremely lucky position, and I likely would not have experienced the success I've had so far without several unfair advantages I hold. Google taught me a lot that would be hard to learn elsewhere, and I also have enough savings that I can try and fail many times without it mattering, and very few people have that luxury. I try to be cognizant of that in my writing and avoid making it sound like what I'm doing is easy or accessible to the average person. That said, I can only write about the experiences I've had, advantages or not. As much as possible, I try to share what I did and learned and not tell anyone else what they should do.

k__ 6y ago
Sure thing. You lost much money, but you could afford it, because you saved when you worked at Google. That's usually the point I think "oh, one of those again". I mean, there is much to learn from you burning money that I don't have, but it always feels a bit disillusoning to me. So again, sorry for calling that out.

ronyfadel 6y ago

It's true, I'm ex-FAANG and although I don't have much saved (worked in Europe), having it on your CV pretty much guarantees you a job in tech. That being said, it doesn't mean: 1) you should stop reading just because he worked at FAANG. 2) you can't take risks because you didn't work at FAANG. The risk/opportunity cost is the same if not more: if he makes $300k from a product, it's less than he would have made at his previous job at Google perhaps.