Ask HN: Which large tech company will best prepare me to be a startup founder? | Hacker News Reader

Ask HN: Which large tech company will best prepare me to be a startup founder?

- I'm soon to graduate from university.

- I want to go into big tech for a few years as a software developer to do things like knock out student debt fast and have a secure job as I find my feet.

- I also know that I want to found a startup a few years later.

- Of the big tech companies, which cultures will help prepare me for this role most? Why and how?

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Work for any big tech company in the beginning. Doesn't matter much in my opinion other than the fact that your goal should be to:

1. Pay off all student debt as fast as possible. It means that live below your means no matter what you make. Under no circumstances, take on more debt specially credit card, car loan etc.

2. Try to find a team that is entrepreneurial where your manager has the power to make decisions. Learn how that works. Running your own business comes down to you knowing how and when to decide something based on the situation you are in.

3. Learn to Sell. Selling is not just about being a typical salesman with a suit and tie. Selling includes your ability to convince people to do something for YOU. For example, you convinced a co-worker to help you with a task ? You just sold. You convinced your manager that xyz is a great idea to build ? You just sold. Learn how to negotiate, convince, persuade and win people's trust. Important for CEOs and founders.

4. Start a side project if possible. Build something. NO matter how small. Don't worry about whether it works flawlessly. Tinker with stuff. Doesn't have to be code only btw.

5. Time Management. Learn this early if you can. Don't waste time only watching TV and internet surfing just because EVERYONE else does. Remember that to be a founder/CEO/startup person, you cannot be like others. You have to be different. Not special. Just different. Your time is THE MOST valuable asset. Utilize it wisely.

Many more but I would focus on these areas first. You can then definitely take the next step.

MOST IMPORTANTLY: Plan your exit from corporate world. Don't just say "i am going to do it one day" because then you never will. Instead, have a plan and work towards it. You will have your own path but the end goal is the same: to start your own stuff. If you leave this for too long, you will become what I called "Corporate Institutionalized" (stealing from the great Red in Shawshank Redemption). Don't be that person.

On point 3, one thing to note is that negotiation from a big corp angle is far different to negotiating as a small startup.

I had a co-founder who worked with a Fortune 50 oil giant. His negotiation style was to bully and pressure, which works great when you're huge, not if you're tiny.

It's not always the case, but an anti-pattern to be careful of.

Don't do it... big tech has a quality of life that you won't get as a founder running your own show. and what will follow is that your expectations will change as a result.

Paul Graham talks a little bit about it here: http://www.paulgraham.com/boss.html

If you are a person that is meant to run your own business do it now. Real Entrepreneurs find a way to make it work.

I highly disagree with this. Big companies are big for a reason, they have found a way to create value for an extended period of time. Learning how they operate can be valuable. That doesn't mean everything they do can be used in a startup but some of it can.

Plus paying off student loans and having a little of your own seed capital is better than scrapping by when you start your own venture.

I assume that a big company doesn't give the experience you to become a CEO. It a huge difference between big companies and start-ups. You don't feel there an atmosphere of a startup. I suggest you start working at a start-up. Because you will see all the issues there: how to get investments; acquisition; activation of users, retention. And all shit that happens there. So, you will prepare yourself as the CEO.

One person shared one week ago a spreadsheet with remote open jobs at startups. You can check it here https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1Sr0vy3eDn2fcEhxOdkPv...

The longer you work with a big company, the more you develop habits and luxuries that make a startup harder. Money isn't even the bottleneck most of the time. Hunger helps more.

Big companies don't necessarily pay well in the short run either. It's a longer game.

Your best shot might be joining a mid stage startup (Series B and above). They have the money to pay quite well. Or even something late stage like Uber and Dropbox, but these often lose their startup culture.

Go somewhere with a real risk of falling apart.

What do you think about startup that got unicorn valuation/late series startup?

Not sure about the American ones. Where I live the late stage startups are often too bureaucratic, unfocused, with the 80 hour weeks. When they're too big, they have to justify the valuation by creating a lot of other little side projects. But this seems more a trait of Asian unicorns, who try to switch to Alphabet mode long before they IPO.

can you give name for this asian unicorns?, what is alphabet mode?

You should work at a company where you can directly interact with the CEO and CTO and see what they do. That means a company with less than 100 people.

There's a common application for most YC-funded startups at https://www.workatastartup.com/

NVIDIA?

Thanks for sharing that.

I can also recommend a sales or sales-related/product management role as something that would prepare you for founding a startup, especially if your intention is to be CEO.

"If you want to grow your career, work at a place that is growing." This might not gel with the potentially higher pay at a FAANG.

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