6 ms·

Ask HN: I shut down my company, now I need a job

79 points by RBBronson123 4y ago

Two weeks ago, I announced (https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=31598978 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=31598978) that I was shutting down my companies, 70 Million Jobs and Commissary Club (companies that helped the formerly incarcerated get on with their lives). The overwhelming volume of support I received just through Bookface and Hacker News stunned me; my heart overflowed with pride and gratitude. Now I am facing another challenge: I need a job. I’ve spoken with many recruiters and HR professionals, along with people who are interested in either acquiring my company(s), funding them or just want to make themselves available for a chat. I’ve received offers for leadership positions at nonprofits, but I haven’t yet discovered the right fit. Maybe I love the startup life too much. Maybe my criminal record hurts my chances. (Maybe!?!) Maybe my age is a deterrent. Before I accept a position that doesn’t thrill me, I thought I’d get the word out to the YC community. Perhaps your company has—or has been considering—beginning a foundation or some other mission-based, social impact endeavor. Perhaps you need to hire lots of folks for your work force and want to seriously access the largely ignored 70 million Americans with records. I can help. What else am I very good at? Business development, sales training and management. Please note: I’m not very technical. If you’ve got ideas, I’d love to hear them. Thanks for your time and consideration.

hunglee2 4y ago
hey man, saddened to hear the news about 70 Million Jobs, such a worthwhile project that deserved to succeed.
- RBBronson123 4y ago
  I appreciate the encouragement.
bitxbitxbitcoin 4y ago
Giving you my best wishes that you land on your feet!
- RBBronson123 4y ago
  Thank you.
0xferruccio 4y ago
Wishing you the best! Our company is not a good fit unfortunately, but I’m sure you’ll find something great on here!
- RBBronson123 4y ago
  Thanks!
mettamage 4y ago
70 million!? Isn't that like 20% of the whole population? 20% of the whole US population has a criminal record?! I might be out of line here, and I'm sorry if I am, but it almost sounds like the US wants to treat its own citizen as a criminal.
- Clubber 4y ago
  Last I checked, the US has the most people incarcerated in the entire world, both by per capita and total incarcerated population. The land of the free... Yup, still accurate: https://worldpopulationreview.com/country-rankings/incarceration-rates-by-country https://worldpopulationreview.com/country-rankings/incarcera...
  - RBBronson123 4y ago
    While the US has approximately 5% of the world's population, it has more than 25% of the incarcerated population.
    - missedthecue 4y ago
      Lots of places around the world under-incarcerate their criminals, sadly. India has 70 rapes per day, and a conviction rate of just 30%. Sub-Saharan Africa is even worse.
      - sph 4y ago
        Is that an attempt to justify the mind boggling incarceration rate in the US?
        missedthecue 4y ago
        hmm not really. It's more pointing out a good reason for the global disparity. It's a simple statistical thought process... another example is that the US is also heavily overrepresented in the number of LGBT people, because many other countries, particularly high-population countries repress that. If you don't compare all-else being equal, you're going to have other factors playing into the resulting figure.
rpmisms 4y ago
I wish I were able to help, I'm just not well-connected. Thank you for the work you've done, such a massive help to society.
- RBBronson123 4y ago
  Thank you
qorrect 4y ago
You want to help me build these ( https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-022-30505-2 https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-022-30505-2 ) water collectors. We could expand to self watering gardens etc.
staticautomatic 4y ago
Have you considered an HR role with a company that has a huge hiring pipeline? UPS, FedEx, and Accenture come to mind (I’m reluctant to recommend Walmart and Amazon, but you get the idea).
- RBBronson123 4y ago
  Yes, I worked with those companies' departments every day. As a rule, they won't hire a convicted felon (which I am) for a significant role.
onphonenow 4y ago
Good luck! A quick question - I worked briefly for a group doing job-re-entry work for folks with records etc. Such critical work, some very positive stories. However, on the admin side, a fair number of scams and accusations. Curious how your work addresses this (for what it is worth this was in CA) or you'd suggest folks approach this. Workers comp: We had to make sure to not let folks into building for final paychecks (if they were a no show quit or had other issues) because there were repeated workers comp claims from the 3 minutes it took folks to get their last check. Bumped knee on desk, trip and falls and more. Workers comp overall was tough. Out of work injuries etc etc getting reported as on-job injuries, and there was an industry that seemed to serve these claims so they went on forever. Our x-mod was horrible. Age / race / etc discrimination claims. Just basics like showing up to a job, on time. If you can't do that it's not (necessarily) a discrimination issue always. Unpaid time claims - often for very small amounts. This was fully digital clock in / out system with careful timesheet rounding settings where CA has some rules (ie, OK to round to nearest minute in a fair way and not always pay to the second). Stolen checks, reports of stolen paychecks. We couldn't investigate all, but some seemed pretty thin based on cancelled check images. Some were probably very real. Admin issues we were OK with but worth thinking about. -> Relatively high number of child support orders. The calculations can get complex in CA with multiple orders. -> Lots of ed debt collection orders, there must be some industry that get's people into debt here or a way to use ed debt to fund living expenses? I didn't investigate but caught my eye. -> Some bad dysfunction at state agencies dealing with folks (so folks not paying attention can easily double pay). This wasn't NOT the rule by any means, but out of 100 folks, 10 maybe still "hustling". If you are not setup / used to this it's a bit of a shock. We had to do everything from signing to pickup a paycheck to many other controls (full positive pay on all accounts used to write checks to staff etc). Also went to a full contest mode basically, where every bogus claim was fully contested - including the unpaid 15 minute claims. That's a loser economically (ie, the cost of just paying the 15 minutes is nothing compared to cost to fight with no recovery of costs to fight). But it ended up being critical to slow the pace of claims to make sure there weren't "automatic" rewards for things. At the end I found it incredibly rewarding and the good far outweighed the bad. Folks need a path back into the working world. But I'd have loved it even more if there were some things to do to weed out the 10% or so still hustling.
throwaway954 4y ago
- hrgiger 4y ago
  Maybe you are having hard day or bad experience in similar situation, still you might consider taking a break and re-read your comment and see if you would like to hear similar criticism for yourself.
- peter_l_downs 4y ago
  The ad hominem in this post is uncalled for and unnecessary. There are lots of reasons that a job offer might not be a good fit, and there is absolutely no obligation to accept the first offer that someone makes you. Trying to find a good role and asking HN for advice / leads is not something to be ashamed of. Best of luck to OP, I can't help at the moment but I am sure you will find something you are excited about.
  - RBBronson123 4y ago
    Thanks, Peter. That was an odd response from that guy.
- RBBronson123 4y ago
  With all due respect I disgust you? I've devoted my life to helping others, saved thousands of lives, repaired families and communities, won numerous awards, went through Y Combinator, raised millions of VC dollars, partnered with 300 community organizations and the cities of SF, LA and NY, was named one of the most influential people in DE&I, and made very little money for it. I'm 68 years old, and probably have one more big thing that lies ahead for me, so I want to make sure it's optimally impactful. I disgust you? lol. You made my day.
  - throwaway954 4y ago
    - 4y ago
yding 4y ago
Good luck! Shutting down a startup, especially one that you're passionate about, is never easy. Hope you take the time for yourself to mentally/emotionally recharge.
- RBBronson123 4y ago
  Thanks. I wish I could
BenoitEssiambre 4y ago
I fully respect if you don't want to share but is there a reason you are not taking the funding? The employment market is supposed to become very different soon because of central bank inflation fighting. Your business might become more relevant again?
- RBBronson123 4y ago
  I am, in fact, considering doing it again, but differently/better. However, as you may know, this path is arduous, and after launching 4 major startups, my bones grow weary.
  - BenoitEssiambre 4y ago
    That is quite understandable.
codegeek 4y ago
What kind of roles are you looking for specifically ? It may help if you list things down a bit more in detail than generic Business Development/Sales Training and Management. For example: - Do you want to work only for startups ? Do they have to be startup or can they be small business (non VC funded but growing organically). - Do you only want to work for "social impact endeavors" ? "but I haven’t yet discovered the right fit" What is a right fit for you ? Can you be more specific ?
- RBBronson123 4y ago
  A startup would be great, or one a bit more mature (b/c round) Doesn't have to be a start-up, but I'd much prefer a company that has a strong social mission. Right fit can mean a lot, I recognize, but it includes the nature of my role (I've run large companies), how well-funded, connection w/current leadership, etc. I only mentioned fit to explain that while I have several offers, the right one has yet to emerge. Thanks for asking.

79 points by RBBronson123 4y ago

hunglee2 4y ago

hey man, saddened to hear the news about 70 Million Jobs, such a worthwhile project that deserved to succeed.

RBBronson123 4y ago
I appreciate the encouragement.

bitxbitxbitcoin 4y ago

Giving you my best wishes that you land on your feet!

RBBronson123 4y ago
Thank you.

0xferruccio 4y ago

Wishing you the best! Our company is not a good fit unfortunately, but I’m sure you’ll find something great on here!

RBBronson123 4y ago
Thanks!

mettamage 4y ago

70 million!? Isn't that like 20% of the whole population? 20% of the whole US population has a criminal record?! I might be out of line here, and I'm sorry if I am, but it almost sounds like the US wants to treat its own citizen as a criminal.

Clubber 4y ago
Last I checked, the US has the most people incarcerated in the entire world, both by per capita and total incarcerated population. The land of the free... Yup, still accurate: https://worldpopulationreview.com/country-rankings/incarceration-rates-by-country https://worldpopulationreview.com/country-rankings/incarcera...
- RBBronson123 4y ago
  While the US has approximately 5% of the world's population, it has more than 25% of the incarcerated population.
  - missedthecue 4y ago
    Lots of places around the world under-incarcerate their criminals, sadly. India has 70 rapes per day, and a conviction rate of just 30%. Sub-Saharan Africa is even worse.
    - sph 4y ago
      Is that an attempt to justify the mind boggling incarceration rate in the US?
      - missedthecue 4y ago
        hmm not really. It's more pointing out a good reason for the global disparity. It's a simple statistical thought process... another example is that the US is also heavily overrepresented in the number of LGBT people, because many other countries, particularly high-population countries repress that. If you don't compare all-else being equal, you're going to have other factors playing into the resulting figure.

rpmisms 4y ago

I wish I were able to help, I'm just not well-connected. Thank you for the work you've done, such a massive help to society.

RBBronson123 4y ago
Thank you

qorrect 4y ago

You want to help me build these ( https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-022-30505-2 https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-022-30505-2 ) water collectors. We could expand to self watering gardens etc.

staticautomatic 4y ago

Have you considered an HR role with a company that has a huge hiring pipeline? UPS, FedEx, and Accenture come to mind (I’m reluctant to recommend Walmart and Amazon, but you get the idea).

RBBronson123 4y ago
Yes, I worked with those companies' departments every day. As a rule, they won't hire a convicted felon (which I am) for a significant role.

onphonenow 4y ago

Good luck! A quick question - I worked briefly for a group doing job-re-entry work for folks with records etc. Such critical work, some very positive stories. However, on the admin side, a fair number of scams and accusations. Curious how your work addresses this (for what it is worth this was in CA) or you'd suggest folks approach this. Workers comp: We had to make sure to not let folks into building for final paychecks (if they were a no show quit or had other issues) because there were repeated workers comp claims from the 3 minutes it took folks to get their last check. Bumped knee on desk, trip and falls and more. Workers comp overall was tough. Out of work injuries etc etc getting reported as on-job injuries, and there was an industry that seemed to serve these claims so they went on forever. Our x-mod was horrible. Age / race / etc discrimination claims. Just basics like showing up to a job, on time. If you can't do that it's not (necessarily) a discrimination issue always. Unpaid time claims - often for very small amounts. This was fully digital clock in / out system with careful timesheet rounding settings where CA has some rules (ie, OK to round to nearest minute in a fair way and not always pay to the second). Stolen checks, reports of stolen paychecks. We couldn't investigate all, but some seemed pretty thin based on cancelled check images. Some were probably very real. Admin issues we were OK with but worth thinking about. -> Relatively high number of child support orders. The calculations can get complex in CA with multiple orders. -> Lots of ed debt collection orders, there must be some industry that get's people into debt here or a way to use ed debt to fund living expenses? I didn't investigate but caught my eye. -> Some bad dysfunction at state agencies dealing with folks (so folks not paying attention can easily double pay). This wasn't NOT the rule by any means, but out of 100 folks, 10 maybe still "hustling". If you are not setup / used to this it's a bit of a shock. We had to do everything from signing to pickup a paycheck to many other controls (full positive pay on all accounts used to write checks to staff etc). Also went to a full contest mode basically, where every bogus claim was fully contested - including the unpaid 15 minute claims. That's a loser economically (ie, the cost of just paying the 15 minutes is nothing compared to cost to fight with no recovery of costs to fight). But it ended up being critical to slow the pace of claims to make sure there weren't "automatic" rewards for things. At the end I found it incredibly rewarding and the good far outweighed the bad. Folks need a path back into the working world. But I'd have loved it even more if there were some things to do to weed out the 10% or so still hustling.

throwaway954 4y ago

hrgiger 4y ago
Maybe you are having hard day or bad experience in similar situation, still you might consider taking a break and re-read your comment and see if you would like to hear similar criticism for yourself.
peter_l_downs 4y ago
The ad hominem in this post is uncalled for and unnecessary. There are lots of reasons that a job offer might not be a good fit, and there is absolutely no obligation to accept the first offer that someone makes you. Trying to find a good role and asking HN for advice / leads is not something to be ashamed of. Best of luck to OP, I can't help at the moment but I am sure you will find something you are excited about.
- RBBronson123 4y ago
  Thanks, Peter. That was an odd response from that guy.
RBBronson123 4y ago
With all due respect I disgust you? I've devoted my life to helping others, saved thousands of lives, repaired families and communities, won numerous awards, went through Y Combinator, raised millions of VC dollars, partnered with 300 community organizations and the cities of SF, LA and NY, was named one of the most influential people in DE&I, and made very little money for it. I'm 68 years old, and probably have one more big thing that lies ahead for me, so I want to make sure it's optimally impactful. I disgust you? lol. You made my day.
- throwaway954 4y ago
  - 4y ago

yding 4y ago

Good luck! Shutting down a startup, especially one that you're passionate about, is never easy. Hope you take the time for yourself to mentally/emotionally recharge.

RBBronson123 4y ago
Thanks. I wish I could

BenoitEssiambre 4y ago

I fully respect if you don't want to share but is there a reason you are not taking the funding? The employment market is supposed to become very different soon because of central bank inflation fighting. Your business might become more relevant again?

RBBronson123 4y ago
I am, in fact, considering doing it again, but differently/better. However, as you may know, this path is arduous, and after launching 4 major startups, my bones grow weary.
- BenoitEssiambre 4y ago
  That is quite understandable.

codegeek 4y ago

What kind of roles are you looking for specifically ? It may help if you list things down a bit more in detail than generic Business Development/Sales Training and Management. For example: - Do you want to work only for startups ? Do they have to be startup or can they be small business (non VC funded but growing organically). - Do you only want to work for "social impact endeavors" ? "but I haven’t yet discovered the right fit" What is a right fit for you ? Can you be more specific ?

RBBronson123 4y ago
A startup would be great, or one a bit more mature (b/c round) Doesn't have to be a start-up, but I'd much prefer a company that has a strong social mission. Right fit can mean a lot, I recognize, but it includes the nature of my role (I've run large companies), how well-funded, connection w/current leadership, etc. I only mentioned fit to explain that while I have several offers, the right one has yet to emerge. Thanks for asking.