4 ms·

Or having only ever worked at FAANG(s), many of them completely lack the skills that would make them effective as an entrepreneurs and it would be nigh useless

by rixrax 3y ago

Or having only ever worked at FAANG(s), many of them completely lack the skills that would make them effective as an entrepreneurs and it would be nigh useless to try to incubate new businesses out of them. Maybe. Not all. I am thinking of traits and skills such as actually talking to your users, selling product to customers, doing things small scale, being able to work without huge back office support, not having KPIs to game, and such.

gretch 3y ago
Completely agree with this take. I worked in FAANG and before that I worked in various startups. Most of the people around me are very adapted to this very specific hyper-structured environment that we are in. This is not a criticism - they are thriving in this environment and everyone is happy. But no way would I want to take these people with me on a new venture. (the inverse is also true; I would not take a shoot-from-the-hip go-getter and put them into a mature product environment that with intense legal scrutiny)
- sangnoir 3y ago
  How do you reconcile your final paragraph/sentence with your own ability to succeed[1] in both environments? My experience is that the ability to adopt to structured/unstructured environments are not mutually-exclusive: some people may thrive in one but not the other, and others can do well in both (or none!) My motto is to make the right trade-offs in any environment - which is a universal superpower for engineers in my book; especially when coupled with curiosity and a willingness to learn. 1. I'm taking the charitable presumption.
  - gretch 3y ago
    You might be too charitable. There were hard transition phases where I was not necessarily considered successful. And I probably only made it through because my employer had deep pockets and chilled while I took time to adapt. The other direction (big co -> startup) is no where near as forgiving. Mottos are fine, but what we need to succeed is skill and practice with skills. We are susceptible to innovators dilemma on a personal basis, and it’s hard to break habits and intuition hardened over years in a different environment. And when I was in start up land I did watch a lot imported talent from FAANG come in and bomb out - they were trying to care about long term code quality and we needed to slap together a demo in 48 hours. It was like oil and water Edit: btw I don’t mean to signal that it’s impossible to do to be someone who thrives in both situations. It was a comment on the original suggestion of “just start a new company and hire up all these lay offs to get rich quick”. I believe that’s not going to be a good strategy
    - sangnoir 3y ago
      Great points on the direction! I'd love to hear the opinion of someone who started out in big tech and then transitioned to a startup.
qaq 3y ago
Sales part can be the value add incubator brings. I also specifically mentioned "top".

by rixrax 3y ago

gretch 3y ago

Completely agree with this take. I worked in FAANG and before that I worked in various startups. Most of the people around me are very adapted to this very specific hyper-structured environment that we are in. This is not a criticism - they are thriving in this environment and everyone is happy. But no way would I want to take these people with me on a new venture. (the inverse is also true; I would not take a shoot-from-the-hip go-getter and put them into a mature product environment that with intense legal scrutiny)

sangnoir 3y ago
How do you reconcile your final paragraph/sentence with your own ability to succeed[1] in both environments? My experience is that the ability to adopt to structured/unstructured environments are not mutually-exclusive: some people may thrive in one but not the other, and others can do well in both (or none!) My motto is to make the right trade-offs in any environment - which is a universal superpower for engineers in my book; especially when coupled with curiosity and a willingness to learn. 1. I'm taking the charitable presumption.
- gretch 3y ago
  You might be too charitable. There were hard transition phases where I was not necessarily considered successful. And I probably only made it through because my employer had deep pockets and chilled while I took time to adapt. The other direction (big co -> startup) is no where near as forgiving. Mottos are fine, but what we need to succeed is skill and practice with skills. We are susceptible to innovators dilemma on a personal basis, and it’s hard to break habits and intuition hardened over years in a different environment. And when I was in start up land I did watch a lot imported talent from FAANG come in and bomb out - they were trying to care about long term code quality and we needed to slap together a demo in 48 hours. It was like oil and water Edit: btw I don’t mean to signal that it’s impossible to do to be someone who thrives in both situations. It was a comment on the original suggestion of “just start a new company and hire up all these lay offs to get rich quick”. I believe that’s not going to be a good strategy
  - sangnoir 3y ago
    Great points on the direction! I'd love to hear the opinion of someone who started out in big tech and then transitioned to a startup.

qaq 3y ago

Sales part can be the value add incubator brings. I also specifically mentioned "top".