My hustle mindset backfired and Lost all,but am happy

What’s the experience like? Have you thought if joining a corporate would be better?

For anyone stepping into the world of building, just be okay with the above. It'll be true, no matter how much you fall.

It can be anything related to not doing something you always wanted to but never did, a mistake you realize you shouldn’t have made, or feelings of not being successful enough. Feel free to share your thoughts.

I've been in startups for the last 8 years. From Series B/C onwards to even a unicorn, over time worked at 3. One of them was an outright scam, raised many millions of $s from top investors, and then ultimately died. Also close with CXOs at decent sized startups, and there is a pattern out there. A few thoughts: 1. Being a startup founder is tough. There's pain. Some people thrive in pain. AKA Masochists. Know how to spot a founder who works 15 hours a day because they love their vision vs. somebody who works 15 hours a day because they're masochists. These people thrive in pain, and hence love to see you miserable as you slog away the hours under their leadership. There is absolutely no vision for the future that they have. They do it for the fame, money, and cause a lot of pain in the process. Nothing good comes out of it. Investors love this breed. 2. I wish I'd done more than just leave the scammy startup. At the point, I decided against whistleblowing. Because I thought there's so many people employed here, they would all be impacted. Over time, 200-300 people more joined after I left. Once the scam was caught, all of them lost their jobs. 3. I'm not a coder. I'm a generalist. Over time, my pay grew but not in line with my peers who went into consulting/VC and then came back to big tech/startups. Over time, you disadvantage yourself if you stick around as a generalist in startups for too long. The next team pays you at some premium over the last one, there's no step jump. You need to somehow find a successful startup early, and genuinely, that is impossible to game - even VCs have to bet on 20 to get it right. These are a few disjointed thoughts. I hope they give some insight. My only takeaways: - If you work at a scammy startup, don't stand it. At least, don't stick around. - I earn lesser than my peers (tier 1 undergrad), but I regret nothing. I love my work, and I'll never get over the kick. I cannot imagine working at a larger company ever again. - Ultimately, you have to be optimistic. Believe that India will grow, good founders will come around, magic will happen ❤️

Life is hard, and plans don't always turn out the way they should. But when we look back over our lives, we realize that some decisions really changed the course of our lives for the better.

By what age did you achieve this? And how did you manage to do it? Did life change for you post that?

We all talk a lot about the work we do and the jobs we got and stuff. But what is it that you sacrificed to get get there? I’ll go personally: I wanted to build a career in tech, so I: 1. Lived away from my family and friends in an unknown city for 3 years (hardest thing for me as family/friends mattered a lot to me) 2. Did not take up a job in Finance which was my true passion and still is

Wanted to say Hi, what do you do, how do you see current phase of your life, how do you look at your career so far, and what do you plan to do in next 5 years, etc.

Team is less than 10 people still, slowly growing. Net profit could be higher, that's top priority to work on now. Total cash invested by founders was 15L over 3-4 years. Yearly revenue : 2019 - less than 30k 20 - 1.5L (after pivot) 22 - 50L Getting to the first lakh and then to 10 lakhs was probably the most challenging part. We thought of shutting down multiple times, struggled through multiple fights between founders. Glad we didn't stop working and pulled through. This is my 4th or 5th attempt at starting up. Except for 1, other attempts didn't even get to incorporation stage. Would love to hear from other bootstrappers and their experience.

took the plunge, started up last year. burned all savings, couldn't raise any capital. tried multiple things, nothing took off. decided to shut down in june. shutting down was harder than starting up, finished things up by october. been looking for jobs since, with no luck. had kick-ass jobs prior to this. no clue what is happening now. really want to give starting up another shot but have lost all motivation. so lost. no idea what to do.