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:
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.
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.
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:
A startup with experienced folks and a well defined set of roles and responsibilities >>> one where we're all "a family"
Totally. The one which was a scam, when times were good we actually were a family. We’d do most dinners together outside & all of that. We’d meet on weekends.
When things went bad (I was long gone by then), it was disgusting behaviour between people who once were best friends.
These folks certainly have a very different definition of family!
Can you expand on generalist point? Whats the pay parity like? What sort of consulting VCs did your friend go to?
Basically, over time people did MBA etc. I skipped and stayed at startups.
Those people did consulting/VC etc. and get paid close to 70-80 LPA now after becoming manager (I’m talking about the top ones, who I compare myself with)
Vs. that, my salary remained in the 45L vicinity, and so I began to question all the hustle I did, expecting a payout. That never happened. This was back when I was still working.
Thanks for the reply. Am in a similar boat, although Post MBA, but considering generalist roles.
Had an additional query, not sure how apt for you but, where do you move from generalist roles? Other startups, naturally start your own or PE/VCs
In the future, lets hope india brings forth more passion-driven founders and less of those fueled by vanity and blind overworking.
100%. For that to happen, VCs need to know what kind of aggressive is right, and what kind isn’t.
So far, too many bad actors got promoted. Now all the chips are falling. Hopefully, this will help in correction.
Thanks so much for sharing, very insightful! May I pls ask: good to know that you’re thinking to start something of your own, but i’m curious if you’ve had this thought before - if yes, why’d you choose not to start up?
Thank you! Why not startup earlier: always felt I had more to learn, and genuinely was enjoying most of what I was doing in previous roles
I think most importantly it was about confidence in self. I lacked it earlier, felt I’m not good enough to do it. I may not be even now, but I have more confidence because the initiatives I took in past companies worked out well.
It’s a feedback loop. It becomes longer if you are not very confident.
thanks so much for sharing candidly! really appreciate it
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