Your career is a mess

http://founderdating.com/blog/

by jonomillin • 13 years ago

79 16 13 years ago

founderdating.com

nofinator• 13 years ago

Here is a direct link to the blog post for future visitors: http://founderdating.com/your-career-is-a-mess/

jonomillin• 13 years ago

Thanks! Getting up early makes you do silly things...

nlh2• 13 years ago

I agree with most of what the post says -- entrepreneurs today rarely have a "clean" linear history, and that's actually pretty cool.

I disagree with one point:

At Bloomberg Beta, we have backed founders who we know have jobs other than the startup we are investing in — and that’s fine. So long as we share an understanding of how much time they are devoting, and have transparency into all their other roles so we know there are no conflicts, we think having multiple interests is healthy.

Yes, multiple interests is indeed healthy. But I really don't think founding a company should be a part-time endeavor. Maybe a side project is, and if you're backing a side-project as just that, fine. But starting a _company_ -- a real business -- takes an absurd amount of focus and attention and shouldn't be a side dish. I sense there's a reason YC doesn't like to back founders who haven't fully committed themselves to the venture.

Or...?

Edit: To clarify, I'm referring not to running a personal side project or hobby business. Many folks can and should do that sort of thing in their spare time. I'm talking about founding a company - and taking investment - and building a team. That's where real focus and sole dedication is needed.

simonw• 13 years ago

Starting a rapid growth, venture-backed startup (which is the route YC tends to lead towards) may be incompatible with other jobs, but there are plenty of forms of startup or entrepreneurship that are. As the article mentioned, GitHub was started in the founders' spare time while they were employed elsewhere. Plenty of startups bootstrap themselves through consulting - it slows you down, but it also reduces risk which may be appropriate for some people (people with families to support for example). 37signals were a web consultancy when they launched Basecamp.

nlh2• 13 years ago

Very good points - thanks!

This helps me clarify my thinking a bit: I think the 37signals approach is actually a good one. The key there is that the team stays together, works together, and evolves together - even if the actual project of the day isn't directly related to the company's "core."

I guess what I'm concerned about are the situations where the founders' attentions are split. "Sorry guys, I can't make this big pitch meeting because my other job needs me" or "Yeah I'd love to be there for the big push before our demo, but I have to get up early tomorrow for a meeting at my other job", etc. That's the stuff that's potentially very difficult.

prostoalex• 13 years ago

Starting a product != launching a startup.

37 Signals guys didn't need to build a brand new company while they were building a brand new product. GitHub delayed organizational build-up for as long as possible. Scaling an org is a pretty daunting task http://www.avc.com/a_vc/2013/08/the-similarities-between-bui...

hack_edu• 13 years ago

That quote, and entire post, is really just a clumsy (read: "classy") way of plugging his newest venture. There's no real assertion to disagree with, just a filler sentence written for PR.

cute title + 500 words = free marketing press release disguised as a blog post

padobson• 13 years ago

Most people mainly have their labor to invest. I'd say the people who understand this and diversify their investments are the entrepreneurs this article is talking about.

iambateman• 13 years ago

Founding a company can absolutely be a part time endeavor. In fact, why would you jump in full time before you have reason to believe its' going to return revenue.

I spent a year working on a doomed concept before acknowledging that it was probably better to have a job that paid dollars every two weeks.

Eventually, sure, it makes sense to go full time. But there's got to be some kind of real-money-rationale.

If that's the case, of course a career isn't going to be a clean, linear sheet. My resume looks like a cobweb. But for some people, one job for 35 years is totally still attainable.

dennybritz• 13 years ago

Can't believe this got to the front page "organically" :)

Gonzih• 13 years ago

Can't see how that fact can be but not to be OK.

jroseattle• 13 years ago

I am living this very picture right now. I'm currently interviewing with multiple companies, and based on the discussions I'm having, I'm convinced that our resumes are going to change in the next {X} years, where X <= 10.

My resume is very similar to my LinkedIn profile. The primary basis of which is a chronological listing of my employers (or my own self-employed work.) A better picture would be to present it with descending chronological/parallel projects.

The employer-based presentation used to imply something that doesn't seem to matter all that much anymore. For some, it's still a signal -- I'm sure Google or NASA looks pretty good on a resume, for example -- but for the most part, I find that I'm answering questions about project work. The employer is nearly irrelevant, save for some specific scenarios.

Given the transient nature of our industry, I think the actual employer details are going to become secondary in importance. To the point that representation of your background on LinkedIn will be project-based, not employer-based.

lambdasquirrel• 13 years ago

Didn't Bloomberg have a hiring clause that said that they pretty much owned everything you did, even if you did it in your own time? Or has that finally changed? My understanding is that NYS does not have the same protections that CA does, which is why tech is a hopeless endeavor in NY.

jackaltman• 13 years ago

Hard to disagree with the observation that people are putting more and more irons in the fire, but I disagree with the author's solution - asking people to disclose everything they are working on at all times is a bad idea.

The nature of this new world is that most things we dabble in at the very early stages end up fizzling. Like an author with a new book, people will be less likely to take important risks if they know they'll be scrutinized from the beginning.

ctblue• 13 years ago

With a bit of effort you can have a LinkedIn profile with a portfolio of projects. It's just a bit more typing and people are often too busy (or lazy :-)) to do it.

Also, a lot of times people want to make their profiles attractive to employers and employers want to see you working in one place for a long time (because they don't want people jumping ship in a few months).

7Figures2Commas• 13 years ago

At Bloomberg Beta, we have backed founders who we know have jobs other than the startup we are investing in — and that's fine. So long as we share an understanding of how much time they are devoting, and have transparency into all their other roles so we know there are no conflicts, we think having multiple interests is healthy.

I won't comment on the author's general observations and conclusions, some of which I don't agree with, but this provides yet more evidence that there is currently far more capital chasing too few startups.

Can businesses emerge out of side projects? Absolutely. But a $75 million fund that invests explicitly "for financial return" funding part-time founders, actually believing that it can be certain that no conflicts exist or could develop, and that said founders can accurately predict and commit to specific time allocations?

In my opinion, this shows just how desperate some investors are to develop dealflow.

Your career is a mess

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