3 ms·

Do you find working for google better preparation for your next startup?

by smg 17y ago

nostrademons 17y ago
Hard to say - I find that I'm a lot more confident technically than I was beforehand. Like many younger founders, I spent a lot of time worrying about what I'd do if I had to scale, if I had to internationalize, how to deploy to multiple servers, what should I log, etc. I knew intellectually how those things worked (and that I shouldn't worry about them), but I'd never had firsthand experience with a product that needed them. And now I have, and it's not really a big deal. Plus I've got a bunch more experience with algorithms and data collection, and the quality standards at Google are higher than at many of the startups I've worked at. I'm also a lot less scared of big companies, having worked in one and having some sense of how they operate. I certainly wouldn't challenge a big company head-on in its core competency, but knowing how hard it is to gain executive attention for little market niches, I wouldn't be scared at all of them as a startup. OTOH, there're some things that if you just naively copy from Google, you'll fail miserably in the startup world. There're different tradeoffs for risk vs. reward, and for quality vs. time to market. And I'm much more comfortable with ambiguity having worked in startups. I feel like I'm a better programmer through having worked at Google, but a better entrepreneur through having worked at startups. Moreover, the time in startups taught me that being a good programmer/marketer/salesman is more important than being a good entrepreneur when you're starting a company. Worry about the product, not the trappings. If you have the chance, I'd really recommend working in both a large, well-functioning company and a couple startups before starting your own. They're both really important perspectives.

3 ms·

Do you find working for google better preparation for your next startup?

by smg 17y ago

Do you find working for google better preparation for your next startup?

nostrademons 17y ago
Hard to say - I find that I'm a lot more confident technically than I was beforehand. Like many younger founders, I spent a lot of time worrying about what I'd do if I had to scale, if I had to internationalize, how to deploy to multiple servers, what should I log, etc. I knew intellectually how those things worked (and that I shouldn't worry about them), but I'd never had firsthand experience with a product that needed them. And now I have, and it's not really a big deal. Plus I've got a bunch more experience with algorithms and data collection, and the quality standards at Google are higher than at many of the startups I've worked at. I'm also a lot less scared of big companies, having worked in one and having some sense of how they operate. I certainly wouldn't challenge a big company head-on in its core competency, but knowing how hard it is to gain executive attention for little market niches, I wouldn't be scared at all of them as a startup. OTOH, there're some things that if you just naively copy from Google, you'll fail miserably in the startup world. There're different tradeoffs for risk vs. reward, and for quality vs. time to market. And I'm much more comfortable with ambiguity having worked in startups. I feel like I'm a better programmer through having worked at Google, but a better entrepreneur through having worked at startups. Moreover, the time in startups taught me that being a good programmer/marketer/salesman is more important than being a good entrepreneur when you're starting a company. Worry about the product, not the trappings. If you have the chance, I'd really recommend working in both a large, well-functioning company and a couple startups before starting your own. They're both really important perspectives.