Comment by scarface74
6 years ago
As opposed to working for a small money losing company backed by VCs who hoped to be bought out by big tech companies....
6 years ago
As opposed to working for a small money losing company backed by VCs who hoped to be bought out by big tech companies....
Well this is why it's important to work on something that you believe in. I think there is a fatalism to think all small companies are going to fail. Individual employees should use their own judgment when thinking about whether a startup will work— they are often more right than not since startups tend to be self-fulfilling prophecy. If lots of smart people like you want to join too, then it actually becomes a lot more likely.
That being said by the numbers most startups fail, and there is no guarantee a startup role will get you a positive outcome vs other alternatives.
It’s not about the company “failing”. Very few tech startups are bootstrapped. At some point they take investor funding. At that point it doesn’t matter what the “smart people” want or the founders. The only thing that matters is what the investors want - they want “an exit”. Statistically:
- the chances of a company not just closing their doors are low.
- out of those, the chances of a company becoming a “lifestyle business”, a profitable ongoing private business are close to zero once you take investor money. Investors aren’t looking for profitable private companies hoping to get a minor dividend. They are looking for their investment to get acquired or go public.
- speaking of which very few companies exit with going public instead of being acquired by big tech. Look no further than YC. Only two YC companies have ever gone public.
- Out of those that do go public, even fewer don’t end up getting acquired by big tech and/or are profitable. Again look at YC. Two public companies and Dropbox has admitted that it has no idea whether it will ever be profitable.
As far as “smart people”. All startups think they have “smart people.”