Currently at my “peak” at Google (senior staff), after having worked at a healthy mix of startups/mid-cap/large-cap before, so I like to think I’ve seen a bit o

Currently at my “peak” at Google (senior staff), after having worked at a healthy mix of startups/mid-cap/large-cap before, so I like to think I’ve seen a bit of everything and I’m starting to age in my mid 30s, I’m consistently the oldest around the office. My next move will either be “retiring” and trying to start a solo business in super low-pressure mode (thanks to good savings), or find a right partner and be a cofounder at a typical venture backed startup in the Bay and shoot for the stars. Likely nothing in between. So far I’m not too motivated about the second even if more than one person told me that I have the right attitude, practicality and perseverance to get stuff done (I don’t totally believe them, I know how hard it is to start one as I was in the front seat as early employee a few times). I am more looking forward to the first, somehow I am enticed about the idea of spending my days not talking to a single soul, except customers via email (can you tell I spend 70% of my time in meetings?!). I am waiting for a unicorn I have a good chunk of equity in to go public (or bust) before taking a decision about what’s next. At that point, my FAANG compensation will either become an irrelevant drop in the bucket, or a necessity not worth risking for several more years.