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Reality check overdue for start-ups that don’t fly

28 pointsby bondover 13 years ago

15 comments

martinkallstromover 13 years ago
This article almost got me upset. The writer argues that young people should know better than to try to make it on their own and instead go work at any of the old institutions that make hundreds of millions off of their employees. Maybe there is a reason why talented people don't want to work for them. Growth does not need to happen in terms of company size, it can also happen in terms of number of companies.<p>Huge companies exist because historically communication inside an organization was cheap while communication between organizations expensive. Guess what, with the Internet that doesn't apply anymore. Many small companies can innovate faster than one big, and contribute to faster growth. It's the big companies that are overdue with the reality check.<p>They are dinosaurs dying in a climate more fit for leaner creatures.<p>(Oh, if there is such a need for talent, why doesn't the bigger companies scoop up some talent by doing acquisitions? Valuations shouldn't be to steep in early phases. And it wouldn't take long for the entrepreneurs to get lobotomized, sorry I meant institutionalized, and be happy cogs in the big machine)<p>&#60;/rant&#62; ...sorry.
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TomOfTTBover 13 years ago
I was brought to the valley by a guy who came to my University (Harvey Mudd in Southern California) and paid the aide in my freshman Java course to give him the names of the most promising students. He then offered us $80,000 sight unseen because he was so desperate for coders (and I was making $120,000 6 months later).<p>Bottom line: There has always been and will always be a talent shortage in tech. start-ups. You just have to factor it in (and as my story demonstrates maybe get a little creative in your recruiting)
mathattackover 13 years ago
I can't imagine anyone on this board taking this article seriously. The journalist positions "Work for someone else, or get your idea funded" as a serious decision. There is no decision. You'll learn 10X more doing everything on your own. You can find good mentors, and peers. You can find people to learn with. And you have funding. The companies that complain they can't find people just aren't paying enough, or sharing enough equity.<p>If it was positioned as, "Starve for 2 years as you build a start-up or work for a medium sized firm with a good salary" - then it's a fair comparison.<p>Having lots of companies start, and fail, is a productive use of resources. Having very smart people choose to do this rather than go into consulting, banking, or working for large firms is also a productive use of resources. That our market is still seeding these ventures with money is also productive - and one of the great things about our economy.
DanBCover 13 years ago
&#62; <i>But a lot of them were two-person companies last year too, and the year before that.</i><p>So what? It takes X years (3? 5?) before you see a real profit.<p>&#62; <i>At the same time, many of Boston’s most promising companies with 100 or more employees have a tough time hiring. Could too much of Boston’s talent be stuck in start-ups that are going nowhere?</i><p>Or could some of $TOWN's most promising companies have toxic work environments, with awful management and horrible structures?<p>Letting people work from home would improve hiring. Having sensible expectations for working hours and vacation wouldn't hurt either.
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endtwistover 13 years ago
&#62; <i>And I’d be the last person to discourage someone who feels compelled to start a start-up.</i><p>…Yet, you (the author) just spent two pages doing exactly that.
localhost3000over 13 years ago
and this is why I want to leave boston. one of our most prominent startup journalists is pushing a storyline of too much risk taking. This is so 'boston', it's almost unbelievable...as much as we try and fake it here, Boston is full of skeptical people just like this guy.
wetbrainover 13 years ago
One thing from that article I completely agree with is that “[Mid-Size companies] need to figure out how to recruit and create jobs that are attractive for entrepreneurial people". It's exactly how I feel.<p>I'm about to graduate, and other than the risk factor I don't see the advantage of working at a large company over a smaller one or starting your own. I can understand how lack of business experience and egregious student loan debt can keep a recent grad from taking fewer risks, but this would be the time to do it. I feel that if you're confident enough in your skillset to work for Initech, why not go for it? Most recent grads don't have a family to support and a whole life to play it safe.<p>A company needs to convince me that working five years for them would be better than two at a failed startup. At least for me, a paycheck isn't enough of a reason.<p>(This is part bullshit since I'm not fully following my own advice. My parents co-signed my loans and have four more kids to put through college. Until that's taken care of I don't feel comfortable risking defaulting on my loans.)
PaulHouleover 13 years ago
The number one reason a certain kind of software developer doesn't want to work at a company with 100 employees is that a company like that has a 'glass ceiling'. At some level you're still the inferior of a salesman who can't sell.<p>In organizations like that I've frequently seen a critical risk that would endanger the success of a project, took every chance I could to warn people of it and only got people to believe I was right after a year and a half of wasted opportunity.<p>I tried improving my social skills, I tried wearing a suit, I tried everything... But if you're one person in 100, it's very hard to change the system. At some point I realized I had to go on strike and not work for that kind of company.
anmolover 13 years ago
So much for building a Boston startup eco-system.
seltzered_over 13 years ago
"But he says graduating students ought to be more aware of the benefits of gaining a few years of experience at a small- or medium-sized company before going off to start their own."<p>This depends highly on where you end up working. If you find yourself just maintaining someone else's crappy code, and/or working with people who can't serve as great mentors, I see joining a company as a potentially bad career-risk relative to either:<p>a) spending a couple months working on an open-source project used by a company/group of hackers you really want to work for/be mentored by<p>b) starting a business.<p>(for a&#38;b, be aware of your financial situation before considering the above options)<p>I work with plenty of "industry" programmers who make much more money than me, but are afraid of developing new things or learning new languages, calling them "oh, that's one of those academic things" even after citing something cool being used with them in production.
aoportoover 13 years ago
This article shows how difficult it is for many to accept the idea that an individual would choose an entrepreneurial path over a 'regular job.' Why would anyone take the risk?<p>We take risks, but they are hopefully calculated and well thought out, not reckless. What good is life without taking some risks, especially if you are confident in yourself and your abilities?<p>"Laws, everything's a chance, isn't it?" - Tom Cullen, The Stand
ricardobeatover 13 years ago
To all the companies complaining, just come over to Brazil and grab a bunch of great engineers for 70k.
donaqover 13 years ago
<i>"A lot of the most talented people are going out and getting funded to start their own company,"</i><p>Talent and ambition tend to go hand in hand, and that is the way it should be. If the most talented among us don't attempt to blaze new trails, then the human race would stagnate.
andrewflnrover 13 years ago
I'm not in Boston, but this sounds like a perfectly normal, temporary phenomenon that will correct itself shortly. The people and the economy will probably be better afterwards. Besides excessive pessimism, is there anything to really worry about here?
traemccombsover 13 years ago
Some of you may know me from the old Themes.org days as "OctobrX". We had a common place where people could help and work on desktop themes for X.<p>One of the things that drew me to Linux, was the ability to configure and tweak and change things to suit ones personal tastes. This has always been a hallmark, a calling card of the Open Source community.<p>With Gnome 3.0 and Unity, they have taken a giant leap towards the dark side. I can't believe this has happened.<p>I wish I could put all my feelings into words as aptly as this author has. I wish I could describe how betrayed, how abandoned and utterly dismayed I am by what I've seen in these latest offerings, but I can't.<p>Where can you change the fonts? Where can you set keyboard preferences? Where can you set it up so you can move the bar at the bottom of Unity? So many issues, so little time.<p>All of these things are set-backs and not leaps forwards.<p>Canonical should hire me and I would guide this ship back to its former glory as well as bringing a vision for desktop dominance in the future.
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