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This is part of the perverse reason I can't get behind the advice to start a startup immediately after university. Suffering at a large company for a while isn

This is part of the perverse reason I can't get behind the advice to start a startup immediately after university. Suffering at a large company for a while isn't self-flagellation, it hands you hundreds of things needing solutions.

wlievens 17y ago
I'm not sure if working at a large company is the most efficient way to get inspired.
- hachiya 17y ago
  Perhaps not the work alone, but the networking a standard job provides can give valuable insights into marketable ideas, through discussions on the job or at lunch.
- krschultz 17y ago
  It's not getting "inspired", its finding all the problems they have and are incapable of fixing due to bureaucracy, then stepping out of the place and coming back with a product that solves the problem. It is often easier to get money out of big companies than change.
drawkbox 17y ago
There might be something to this. Work at a big company or any company really in an industry to find the anti-patterns or problems that you never knew. I have worked on systems for Healthcare communication, strategic marketing, online promotions and game development. Almost everything I am working now it based on problems or immense walls built up at companies in those industries that I wouldn't have had the insight to understand had I not taken the apprenticeship through anti-patterns via horrible political walled situations at other companies first. Also, every company has good patterns and anti-patterns that can be applied and work in many other situations. Maybe something can come from all the pain.
- edw519 17y ago
  "There might be something to this." There is something to this. I have accumulated enough business problems to stay busy for 3 lifetimes. The only issue is "What's most important?" To anyone searching for startup ideas, get a job. You won't be searching for long.
vidarh 17y ago
True. On the other hand the longer you wait the more likely you are of having established a high cost of living for yourself and other limiting factors. Example: I have a mortgage, a wife who is studying and a 6 week old baby. Today I need to bring in at least 2500 GBP after tax per month for us to break even or set aside sufficient savings first to make up for the shortfall; when I started my first company I had no dependents, no commitments of any kind, shared a flat with my co-founders that we rented for about 1000 GBP/month, and beyond that we paid ourselves 600GBP/month each. There were four of us, so in effect we were each living on 850 GBP/month after tax while getting things off the ground. In other words the threshold for me to start a company now is much higher than it was, and that is excluding the "luxuries" that drives the income I expect to have even higher. Then I could jump at anything exciting; now I won't consider something unless I think it has a reasonable shot at making me a solid salary and with a shot at making it big. Doesn't mean I'm not still working on various ideas, but it takes more before I can afford to take the risk of going it full time and I need to choose more carefully. If you have a good idea, right after (or before - I quit after a year, but since went back and got a degree) university is a good time to throw yourself into it. You're likely used to living on little money. If you make it big, it doesn't matter, and if you don't you get plenty of chances to have a go at the grind of a larger company later while contemplating your next move.

wlievens 17y ago

I'm not sure if working at a large company is the most efficient way to get inspired.

hachiya 17y ago
Perhaps not the work alone, but the networking a standard job provides can give valuable insights into marketable ideas, through discussions on the job or at lunch.
krschultz 17y ago
It's not getting "inspired", its finding all the problems they have and are incapable of fixing due to bureaucracy, then stepping out of the place and coming back with a product that solves the problem. It is often easier to get money out of big companies than change.

drawkbox 17y ago

There might be something to this. Work at a big company or any company really in an industry to find the anti-patterns or problems that you never knew. I have worked on systems for Healthcare communication, strategic marketing, online promotions and game development. Almost everything I am working now it based on problems or immense walls built up at companies in those industries that I wouldn't have had the insight to understand had I not taken the apprenticeship through anti-patterns via horrible political walled situations at other companies first. Also, every company has good patterns and anti-patterns that can be applied and work in many other situations. Maybe something can come from all the pain.

edw519 17y ago
"There might be something to this." There is something to this. I have accumulated enough business problems to stay busy for 3 lifetimes. The only issue is "What's most important?" To anyone searching for startup ideas, get a job. You won't be searching for long.

vidarh 17y ago

True. On the other hand the longer you wait the more likely you are of having established a high cost of living for yourself and other limiting factors. Example: I have a mortgage, a wife who is studying and a 6 week old baby. Today I need to bring in at least 2500 GBP after tax per month for us to break even or set aside sufficient savings first to make up for the shortfall; when I started my first company I had no dependents, no commitments of any kind, shared a flat with my co-founders that we rented for about 1000 GBP/month, and beyond that we paid ourselves 600GBP/month each. There were four of us, so in effect we were each living on 850 GBP/month after tax while getting things off the ground. In other words the threshold for me to start a company now is much higher than it was, and that is excluding the "luxuries" that drives the income I expect to have even higher. Then I could jump at anything exciting; now I won't consider something unless I think it has a reasonable shot at making me a solid salary and with a shot at making it big. Doesn't mean I'm not still working on various ideas, but it takes more before I can afford to take the risk of going it full time and I need to choose more carefully. If you have a good idea, right after (or before - I quit after a year, but since went back and got a degree) university is a good time to throw yourself into it. You're likely used to living on little money. If you make it big, it doesn't matter, and if you don't you get plenty of chances to have a go at the grind of a larger company later while contemplating your next move.