Ask HN: When is joining a startup worth it? | Hacker News Reader

Ask HN: When is joining a startup worth it?

12 pointsthrowawayprof5 comments

As an AI professor, I have a love/hate relationship with my job, but I suddenly have four other job opportunities (none of which I applied for). One of these is an AI start-up. The mission is important, but it isn’t something I would be interested in doing on my own, unlike my lab’s research (fun but worthless in the short-term). I’m very successful in my current job, have a lot of impact, etc. (big fish, small pond), but it is hard to achieve my goals without going to a higher ranked university. So, I’ve been considering leaving. The start-up opportunity would include a leadership role making new algorithms with the help of software developers. The start-up has received press and has done a large Series A. Very rich folks are trying to convince me to join.

I love a lot of things about my current job (mentoring, working on the things I am super passionate about, shaping lives), and I hate a lot of things (always stressed/busy, very low salary compared to industry, tons of distractions from research, writing grants that will probably be rejected and without them I can’t do my research, teaching required courses to students that don’t want to be there, politics, etc.). It would be hard to return to academia if I did this. The salary is 4x what I make currently, but the cost of housing would go up by 3x. If I was to do this, what should I ask for in equity? What would be the right things to ask for to make it worth the risk?

As a son of a university professor who has worked mostly with startups in my career, I would say, if you have tenure, or a good shot at it, I would not leave.

I explored academia when I was young and gave up because I realised how limiting it was going to be for me. The infighting, and politics are crazy. Software is a game that's best played in teams and the kind of team you can realistically build in academia is limited (for reasons I'm sure you're far too aware of).

However, as I've gotten older (getting near the tail end of my career), I've discovered something interesting. In business, your teams are composed of the people you can hire. It's not a true collaboration either. Small startups are the most fun because it's small and cosy and you can usually get a good feel for your coworkers before you join. But as the business grows, the business needs take over. At some point, your contribution becomes one of encoding the (usually ill thought-out) dreams of the business people.

There are plenty of interesting problems, but unfortunately, there is very little desire to solve these problems. And as the business grows, your influence is likely to diminish greatly. It's very frustrating to see the problem you want to work on hovering in front of your face, but be denied access to it.

As an academic with tenure, you have something incredibly valuable: freedom. You work on what you want to work on. You solve the problems that you want to solve. And, as you said, you may not be able to get grants, or hire grad students and get a lot done, but you also don't have to grind through the day following other people's priorities (for the most part).

as the son of a university professor (mother) and an entrepreneur/MBA/businessperson (father), i totally second this observation. +1

Complicated topic with lots that could be said. Keep in mind if this is a Series A company, they most likely do not care about your ability to actually develop their tech. More likely they are looking to enhance their credibility by adding your name to their sales pitch. (Especially in “AI” businesses which are mostly snake oil.) So you need to consider your reputation and whether you want to attach it to this venture.

Very rich people trying to convince you is a good sign - will you still have a good relationship with them if this startup fails? Will they help you find a soft landing? On the other hand, very rich but bad at convincing you - to the extent that you’re asking a random message board - is a bad sign.

ping me by email (see profile) if you want to brainstorm privately; my two cents is biased toward academia if you have an above-average setup (don't know until I see your CV!); startups come and go with each hype cycle.

Ask large cash bonus upfront. Large salary. Large bonus. No sacrifice for future a-la-startup sh.. promises.

Request "research-style" environment meaning no pushy bosses, no cr.. deadlines, relaxed, freedom workstyle.

You are an AI professor. You know, feel and understand something they never will.

You can make great things happen.

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