For 10 years ago I was in the position of both of you. I hate being ineffective, but because of company policies I just had to go along. Anyway, the madness inside made me quit and after that I've booted several successful startups. Quitting was the best descision I've ever made. It is a big leap for sure, but heck. If you're not happy with current work, you shouldn't continue.
Yes. This is the reality in many startups. I should probably have refused to work on this project and suggested some other task; that's what my colleague did; he only worked on the front end part. I took a risk, I misjudged the tool and failed.
I wasn't even upset (I got a decent severance), I'd been let go over far more trivial things when I was a junior years ago... Like when the boss fired me the first monday after he met my girlfriend at the office christmas party because he thought she was out of my league. That's why I don't bring her (now wife) to any office events nowadays.
It's funny, the process this writer describes - you get frustrated with a company, go off and build your own, and then don't realise that what you've built is just as atrocious to work for..
I feel like many of the people that split off to start their own companies can't really build something better - all they do is reproduce the same bad work environment, but with them in the dictator seat instead of someone else.
On the same boat! Recently got fired from my SEO-lead growth position at a CBD startup based in Canada because of their own financial management problems. Seeing all the opportunities that they missed, and mistakes they made along the way has only pushed me to work more on my projects. I guess you not only learn from your own mistakes but also from just seeing other people fuck up! Truly inspirational to hear that you had a similar experience and that medium article looks great.
Wasn't anything more to me than a failed startup and a great experience. How you could have a failed self image after being your own boss, managing people, making products people want, and pushing yourself to grow personally is beyond me. Letting it ruin your relationship is not the fault of the startup but your behavior towards those you love or their lack of respect for your work and passion.
"On the other hand, almost every successful founder I spoke to, either did not have this issue (founded right after school, etc.), or did not do any work before quitting (which they did either before or after securing funding)."
That's the "Burn the Ships" idea, but there are plenty of start-ups that were side projects.
I don't think big companies care about your start-up idea at all so don't worry about it too much as long as it's not in direct competition with your employer.
No a different startup. I internalized the lesson from that startup and made sure that after I did the one consulting job for MinOps that we didn't do any more consulting, unless the job can be completed in less than a day.
I've been at a startup where this was the case, but they didn't start over, and it was a disaster that, at least partially, was the cause of the failure of the company. Props to you for making the difficult, but correct, choice.
I left a startup that eventually exited prior to my first year. vesting. The manager I had was one of those that was a smart guy, but didn't know his limits and between checking in broken code, aggressively (to the point of insult) insisting people work insane hours, and pushing for outsourcing more and more to a firm that was incompetent, I had enough. Being lead engineer and stuck with a launch that had no prep or IT people in place didn't help.
My favorite two stories were:
1) Disappearing on a weekend (well before launch) for my wife's birthday down to Big Sur. I had told people, but apparently it didn't register. I was at work Monday and lectured despite a 70 hour week the week before.
2) Getting yelled had for whiffing and underhand toss of a pen to a colleague (and friend) of mine during a meeting where we went up to write what we were doing on the whiteboard. Said manager thought I was annoyed and chewed me out. I pointed out, I had just pulled an all nighter and was fucking beat.
When I walked, I told the management team straight up he was the reason I was leaving.
A colleague/friend (he was the UI lead) had hoped to stick it out awhile, he lasted a month after I did.
I went through the frenzy of bubble one, had fun. I'm usually pretty darn dedicated, but that startup showed me my breaking point and I've avoided such situations since.
No link but when I was younger I partnered with a non-technical founder to build a personalised news app. He quit his job while I worked on it part-time. Despite having some users, we failed for many reasons in hindsight.
1. Not shipping fast enough. This one is standard startup advice.
2. No traction for the amount of time we worked on it. Probably caused by not shipping fast enough and not talking to users properly.
3. No conviction. I didn't really care enough about the problem to go all in. TBH, I just wanted something to work on to put on the resume.
4. No competitive advantage. There are a tonne of personalised news apps out there. We had no differentiating factor.
5. No realistic plan to monetise.
6. Finally too many co-founder disagreements as a result of everything so we called it quits.
I don't regret the experience because it taught me a lot about what not to do in my current project.
I have worked on my startup for over a year. I hired someone in India as my developer as I did/do the web design and business stuff....
Through my experience and something I recommend all startuppers have is a thick skin and a crazy, insane drive! If little things piss you off now, how would you handle negative comments made about the work you have slaved over? The negative actually should be viewed as constructive criticism, though also learn to decipher the vicious with the constructive!
When I want to get away from my work I will go and hang out with friends.
I self eliminated and went and worked for a web design startup who’s process involved being drunk and winging it and it was more effective.
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