How hard is it for a founder to get a new job if their startup fails? Hard as in working a 9-5 job as compared to leading a popular company previously. Do you think the interviews judge them or their ego lets them work?
Think of it as not a failure, but as a learning opportunity. The founder (in most cases) does not drive the startup to crash. And it's not that the startup failure that makes people judge the founder. It's all about the mindset and how the founder owns the narrative.
Yep would like to know the mindset after the failure. What drives them or how they motivate themselves.
Genuine Entrepreneurs (and not those pseudo entrepreneurs who want to be founders) have this "keeda" that they'll always work on a new problem. They might take up a job while looking for a new problem or take a break in search of a new problem to solve.
Pseudo entrepreneurs will have a loser's mindset when a startup fails. Real entrepreneurs will have a learner's mindset.
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Qwerty2398
Stealth
a year ago
Very very hard.. unless you have contacts or your startup life is less than 1 year.
This is probably true only if the person had zero relevant experience before their startup. Anyone with experience starting up and failing usually finds a better job than peers without the startup experience
And the entire process of running a startup gets you a rather large set of contacts. Even VCs who invested would help failed founders join other portfolio companies
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Happybee
Student
a year ago
It would be challenging. Besides ego, they might not feel the passion and connection they most likely had with their own startup, loss of control in ownership and decision making can be hurtful.
But, it all comes down to mindset and willpower. If the person wants to rejoin 9-5 workforce with a mindset that he/she is accepting defeat, anything and everything around would feel offensive (even if others didn’t intend it that way) and mundane.
If taken in a positive spirit, one can learn from experience and either take a break temporarily and bounce back or to share one’s expertise with another awesome company and being valuable part of it.
Interviewers in this case are likely to judge the candidate based on his/her past achievements, social image and professional network all put together. (Eg: Say the person has an elite educational background like IIT, IIM etc, they won’t be quick to judge because there is a presumption of excellence. On the other hand, if it’s a grad student with a normal college degree who founded his company and it crashed shortly, in this case he/she might be judged massively.)
Regardless, all that matters is how one introduces oneself, skill set that he/she offers to the new company and makes the best but honest narrative of unfortunate experiences.
Happybee
Student
a year ago
Neither. It’s an observation based on people around me. Again, networking is important. One can learn a lot from experiences of acquaintances.
We are all grown ups, be polite.
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Not hard. Much easier to get hired for leadership roles actually. Plenty of real world examples on linkedin. Look at the profiles of younger folks at leadership roles at startups - you will find a failed startup (1-3 years) there. Beyond 3 years startups don’t really ‘fail’ - some form of buyout or acquisition happens (eg even nestaway sold for 10mn after raising 90mn)
I’ve worked with plenty of folks with a failed startup. At junior levels they become PMs or EM/architects, founders office, At higher levels - heads of a vertical. Much higher levels- Exit to a VC firm role
So it’s happened to me ; I work in the hospitality space , hotels and about 1.5 years back started an asset management company as a founder ; however due to the investors not keeping their part of the bargain ended up looking out for the same rank and pay (GM) of a hotel in the multinational , branded space ; no go …. See hotels in India have a tough class system ; Five Star Deluxe, Five Star , upmarket four star , three star and down the line to the time share space and anytime you move you should not move down the chain …. Anyway, Crux of the matter was that I did not get anything , however due to networking and having a great equation with my last multi national branded hotels owner , have got the position of heading his hotel vertical head of ops …. So there it is …. Raw and bleeding …. Though frankly speaking this role has more meat than what I would be doing as a GM of one property ……
Startups are usually happy to hire prev founders. Be positive, keep learning and keep applying
Depends on the startup and how technical the founders are. That being said, most startups very much prefer hiring people with startup experience, even failed ones.
Possimpible
Stealth
a year ago
If you are a tech founder , you will get a lot of offers .
If you are a non tech founder, you should get offers to work from your network ,mostly from a bigger startup .
So don't think so much about the failure . Focus on the startup success .
a 28 year guy in my team got a SVP position because the HR didn't know which pay banding to put him on. he was a cxo at at a failed fintech startup.
jethaBhai
Stealth
a year ago
Getting a job is tough these days.
CptnHstle
Stealth
a year ago
Pick up PM skills and search for 0-1 jobs
Founders are actually preferred in good startups. Primarily because they do NOT have a “chalta hai” attitude and actually get stuff done, vs a regular career focused employee. Founders take initiative and typically show high ownership.
When I am evaluating resume, I always shortlist founders. In interviews, I give them benefit of doubt on hard skills (assuming a certain baseline is there), with the assumption that they will learn whatever is required.
I would have hired you. Your experience, dedication, attitude would have been invaluable for my company
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