I’m finding this out the hard way. I recently shut down a startup that became very distant from my interests, and now I’m having trouble finding jobs in my actual interest area, hardware engineering. I’m no longer a ‘recent grad’ so my college internships don’t have much weight. I wish I had taken advantage of the amazing opportunities afforded by being a fresh grad instead of starting my own thing, and I wish I had had the foresight to not do a startup that would distract me from my career path.