Comment by senordevnyc
6 years ago
You just can't use statistics when they say "95% fail", otherwise you just don't do startups, ever. With that mindset, joining an established company is more likely to "succeed" for you and maximize serenity.
Actually, you certainly can do that. Most people do. And depending on what you're optimizing for, it seems pretty rational to me.
Another stat for you: most entrepreneurs fail "about twice" before making it, i.e. you'll probably fail 1-3 times for sure before entering the 5% of those who create a profitable business. Trick #1, thus: you can roll the dice several times (consider 2-5 years per "real try").
Yes, but that's for founders, not employees. If "success" here is defined as "made more in risk-adjusted income as early-stage startup employee than I would have made as big tech company employee", I doubt any early stage employees are "successful". Every failed startup you participate in (2-5 years of your life gone) adds to the opportunity cost "debt" you have to make up once one succeeds.
As I see it, if it comes down to such criteria to decide which path you'll take — i.e. you're in tech for the money — then it makes no sense to dabble in startups. Statistics clearly don't lie in this regard.
What I meant however was a bit meta: those who are deeply cut for entrepreneurship and startups are not motivated by money first or even at all; they thus don't and shouldn't care about statistics aiming at maximizing personal benefit... to a founder, "personal benefit" is more about getting things done, creating the dream. They'd rather optimize for long-term success (the kind that's much harder to take away from you, that creates real value).
Wealth, personal or collective, is but a consequence of a successful economic endeavor. As an employee, you'd choose to work for a startup because there's something in it that corporations money can't buy for you. There's no bet if you already believe in the work, you will get what you want every single day on the job. Different values, different goals, different rewards for different people I guess.
those who are deeply cut for entrepreneurship and startups are not motivated by money first or even at all
From working with many, many founders, this isn’t my experience at all.