1. Work for some prestigious ML/AI research lab / startup.
2. Identify a demand in the market.
3. Quit the lab/startup, launch your own startup.
4. Get acquired by some established AI company or FAANG tech megacorp.
5. Retire.
2. Identify a demand in the market.
3. Quit the lab/startup, launch your own startup.
4. Get acquired by some established AI company or FAANG tech megacorp.
5. Retire.
It acts on the same dynamics companies act on. People build reputations by doing this with far less effort than it would take otherwise.
The problem is that it’s definitely a lot easier to just cruise along, punch 40 hours, and leave work at work. Startup founder life is rough. I don’t blame anyone for not wanting to extract that worth from themselves.
Not always true but it only needs to happen once to you for your 40 hour cruising to end. At that point, you will question why you spent so much time slaving away.
My daughter broke her leg just over a month ago. I have decent insurance and my out of pocket expenses were still close to $2000 alone with in network coverage. I think a lot of HNers are somewhat wealthy middle class+ with cash in the bank, or not from the US so they have no clue how out of control these kinds of expenses are.
#5 will almost certainly happen even if you keep doing #1, earning a huge salary.
The numbers and risks just don’t make sense anymore.
...because there's a glut of investor money chasing "AI", raising money for your new AI startup is not particularly hard if you are linked with any of the big names in AI.
Even if the startup "fail", the founder could have been paying themselves a market-rate salary with the added possibility of an FU-money exit. The downsides are limited.
I've seen several startup founders pay themselves below market for years because they have all that equity. Only to find out, a couple down rounds later, it wasn't worth it. They tried though.
It's a gold rush, get in now.
That’s not totally true, but we’re all here trying to outsmart one another in order to have a Sure Thing. Well I’m here to tell you that there are no Sure Things in life except for death and taxes, so take a risk, jump on a random plot of land, and start digging.
(What am I doing to do when AI isn't just at the level of "intern"?)
So like in the case of Inflection.ai, Microsoft just did an acquihire of the entire team and “licensed” the technology/IP from what now is a shell of a company.
For me, it's the first step. It seems once you get started, everything else tends to fall into place more smoothly.
I'm eager to know others' perspectives.
2. Retire
Probably similar odds.