That experience was super useful for my next/current endeavor with my wife and also for my next job since I had to learn and grow a lot in terms of management, prioritization and dealing with lack of resources. Skills which are super valuable to companies and teams of all sizes.
When hiring, I’m biased towards ex-founders and people who tried to launch their own products. I believe that shipping something and asking for money for it is the ultimate proof that a developer can offer in terms of how far and how much they can do/learn so I always favor people who done something even if they failed. Launching a product/company requires tons of different skills which, as I said before, I believe are super valuable in addition to tech skills.
I don't feel that "soft skills" are sought or even desired in an engineer -- I'm only ever asked about some certain framework or technique or algorithm (lol), not even tangential open-ended stuff like "hey how would you approach a customer complaining about X" or "How would you prioritize technical debt vs features in a product's lifecycle?" or, heck, even something fun and off the wall like "you've lost your wallet in a foreign country -- now what?"
I'm glad your startup experience was useful in your own search. Best of luck on your new endeavor! :)
> I don't feel that "soft skills" are sought or even desired in an engineer
An engineer who can communicate well will never be out of a job.
If you know what you are talking about you can still respond to "How would you prioritize technical debt" and offer way more than a direct technical answer. You have to take opportunity to "enhance" every question you are asked with information that portray you in a good light and directs the conversation towards where you think you can generate most value.