Thanks. I am doing that, a bit at a time. I'm not actually bitter, though I think I seem bitter. I am maybe cynical. (maybe they mean the same thing in practice.) But I'm doing well, and I'm not slowing down, I've just seen startup employees get a raw deal way too many times and think the entire "startup culture" is oriented in a way that screws over employees, particularly engineers (without whom software cannot be made. While other functions are absolutely critical too, that doesn't mean the people in those other functions should work 30 hour weeks, and take home most of the payday.)
One of the reasons I'm not bitter is that the VC industry is dying. IT's not obvious yet, but like the headphone jack, its days are numbered.
I'm in the same boat. Fortunate to have worked at startups that exited succefully and now in cushy corporate job. If I went out and did interviews I would just make enemies.
+1 to being angry all the time. I wasn't angry per se but I was certainly edgy. I loved my product but when I was on my first startup I really hated myself for giving up the potential to advance in my career and I desperately feared going nowhere and trying to explain to some clueless HR person the gap in my resume. Fortunately it worked out but that sucked :)
Yeah, I do feel for you. But I wouldn't consider this a mistake. I mean what if the startup you worked had become big.
Its easy to say in hindsight. Like they say in stocks - "You are always wise, the next day"
Go for it, I feel you. I do think you're being bitter and your emotions are overwhelming.
But I do agree startup worlds sucks, also the corporate world and most working places. And most of the life.
So yeah. Be free. Fuck YC. Fuck most of the things in life.
Everyone's different, but I've been doing this particular startup for 2 1/2 years and don't resent anyone yet. I've had times where I felt like burnout was coming, and when that happens I just take a few days "off" from working on the startup.
I wanted to gain things from working hard at the startups I was employed at, but it turned into dead-ends. I even tried being a bit entrepreneurial myself with a startup founder, but that fell flat. In part, I think I was around the wrong people and in the other way, I was not being more critical enough.
I've come to the point that if a company wants me to work more, that a) I am fairly compensated for my value or b) give me partial ownership immediately and the dignity of my position. Otherwise, I am not interested.
My cynical side remembers doing all the grunt work for 18 months at my first startup and then getting sacked to free up my unvested stock for the hopeless flotilla of "key hires" who proceeded to sink the company.
> P.S. I think your experience is a pretty good example of what drives many people to build startups.
Yea, this place drives me more and more mad. I have dabbled in my own side projects, but I am thinking more and more that the time to leave the mega-corporation will have to come soon, for my own sanity at least!
Oh, I can definitely sympathize with that position, having been in it myself, and I didn't mean to belittle the efforts of those currently trying to escape.
I was speaking as someone who is already doing a startup. I've made the mistake of trying to have "serious" side projects at the same time... it's not a good idea.
Thanks for your post Amy, that does strike a cord. It's mentally hard running a startup, the more supportive we are of each other the better off everyone is.
I left the startup I co-founded 4+ years ago. The entire process was an emotional roller-coaster.
My co-founders (and business partners), who are the majority shareholder, made it abundantly clear that the company was 'theirs'. They made decisions behind my back although I am the only founder working full time on the company. I felt alienated, undervalued, and frankly quite miserable for a while.
At some point, when this behavioral pattern started affecting other team members and I realized I had nothing left to do, it was time for me to move on.
I tried to write down how I felt, keeping it politically correct.
I wouldn't say toxic relations - it's just that.... I don't really know. I just want a "good fit" there! I felt very dissatisfied working there, felt like I'm not going anywhere professionally. The general feeling of being under-utilised. When I discussed this with my manager - his solution was more work :/ That didn't help at all. Used to have anxiety pangs and the like. So saved up enough to quit.
> you started a startup?
I wouldn't say it's a start up as such, more of a side project to recover from the burn out. It's hard to explain - at that point it was like I really wanted nothing to do with life. Now I feel a lot better. Hopefully in the next couple of months I'll have a decent product out the door! (Something else I'm currently working on)
Overall, I'm glad I worked for a startup because it gave me the insight to understand what I would want to do differently in my own business.
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