People starting a business after working a few years for a FAANGish company are like people with rich parents. They begin their startup journey with much more than the rest of us.
--edit--
Sorry, guess I'm just jealous of people who start with parents/insurance money, FAANG mentoring/compensation, or such.
I think his situation is different. He didn't ask for VC money. He didn't have tons of "business" experience. He didn't invented GMail like Paul Buchheit. He didn't have "networking" advantages built and ready to serve him post-Google.
I don't know him other than from his blog but I can relate because he started from zero (aside from his software development skill) after quitting his job. He shared his journey: trying to figure things out as he goes along.
I mean... he worked for Google, "cool job, bro!". But have you ever worked for a BigCo before? The moment you're out, there's no safety net. All the infrastructure (software, hardware, HR, knowledge base, etc) is taken away from you.
> FAANG mentoring
What FAANG mentoring are we talking about? He reads available books out there just like the rest of us man...
So you learn in a few years what could take you a decade on your own.
You clearly put FAANG on a higher pedestal than they should be...
There's this thing called "politics" that exist almost everywhere.
The mentoring that they get pertains to their job (e.g.: "Company-X" Python Code best practice, "Company-Y" Deployment checklists).
They don't get mentored how to run your own startup, find product/market fit, etc. FAANG companies are "huge". They hire specialists: "developer" not "developer, marketing, biz-dev, QA, ops, rolled under one hat".
You're right that I'm in an extremely lucky position, and I likely would not have experienced the success I've had so far without several unfair advantages I hold. Google taught me a lot that would be hard to learn elsewhere, and I also have enough savings that I can try and fail many times without it mattering, and very few people have that luxury.
I try to be cognizant of that in my writing and avoid making it sound like what I'm doing is easy or accessible to the average person. That said, I can only write about the experiences I've had, advantages or not. As much as possible, I try to share what I did and learned and not tell anyone else what they should do.
You lost much money, but you could afford it, because you saved when you worked at Google.
That's usually the point I think "oh, one of those again".
I mean, there is much to learn from you burning money that I don't have, but it always feels a bit disillusoning to me.
So again, sorry for calling that out.
That being said, it doesn't mean: 1) you should stop reading just because he worked at FAANG. 2) you can't take risks because you didn't work at FAANG.
The risk/opportunity cost is the same if not more: if he makes $300k from a product, it's less than he would have made at his previous job at Google perhaps.
I say often because of course a tiny fraction of wealthy people are successful after spending an inherited fortune, but more often than not success seems to be genuinely earned through hard work and trial and error.
The 'rich parents' argument seems like the same cop-out as "it takes money to make money" rubbish that people still spout today. After all, it's never been easier to build a business from nothing (starting a YouTube/Insta/TikTok channel or a free blog). People just need to put their already-owned smartphone or laptop to good use.
I don't believe that money isn't a major reason that people are successful.