Hacker News Reader

Comment by gojomo | Hacker News Reader

Against such effusive praise, I wonder why someone would leave after such a relatively short stint. (Maybe the next post?)

View on HN

Agreed. Something seems off about this post. Having worked at Google and also having founded multiple startups, I understand the allure of startups. However, I have to say that in my experience, no one leaves a job that they are perfectly happy with in order to found a startup.

The decision to found a startup comes from a deep dissatisfaction with the status quo. Either because there is a problem you are so passionate about solving that you are willing to drop everything, or because you are dissatisfied with your existing work environment, and want to try to create your own.

totally agree dlevine - in my case, life events happened that make me rethink my risk tolerance and ability to go for my dreams (read my prior post for more context)

Thanks for the pointer to extra context and good luck!

Satisfaction is not black-and-white. I think it is perfectly valid that someone is satisfied with the existing work environment (hey, there is just so much you can expect from an employer), yet, they want to create their own. It might be that they just want to show the world that they are capable of creating the same (or better) on their own.

John: have a good luck pursuing your dream!

Didn't he say that he was pursuing his "dreams of being a startup co-founder"?

Yes, of course that's enough, if the team/market/idea/timing is right.

The praise was just so effusive it sounded like many of the aspects that make being a founder attractive – autonomy, creativity, and impact – were still being well-provided at Google. I'll be interested to see the startup he builds, when it de-cloaks.

as boshea mentioned, I decided to leave to start my own company. My next post will definitely explain things in a bit more detail, so stay tuned!

2 years isn't such a short time in the Valley. At some places, those are the old-timers.

I know it's not what you mean, but that implies there's not much to learn in the Valley.

New opportunities come in the multitudes. The Valley is also very small. There is always a new company starting where the CTO is a former co-worker of your roommate's cousin or something like that and needs a guy/gal he can trust. Six degrees of Kevin Bacon, NorCal style.

Not really. You learn most of what you're going to learn on a job in the first two years. There was some research into this specifically done for software engineers, but for the life of me I can't recall where I saw this research. The amount you learn declines rapidly after 2 years and bottoms out around 4 years. IMHO, most companies should be actively looking to place very autodidactic employees in a novel role every two years or so to keep them stimulated.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com