| I'm an ex pretty sr level exec at a few of those FAANG companies (we'll add an M on there to make that true). I transitioned out in 2016 to redesign my path and optimize for my quality of life. It's been the best decision I could have possibly made, though I'm not sure I could have made it earlier since the hindsight afforded by being in my 40s allowed for a far greater understanding of what was important than if I had tried the same thing in my 30s. That's a data set of 1. I wrote about this transition (9 min read): https://medium.com/@brandonwatson/designing-the-life-you-wan... I ended up in a very unexpected work situation which I am finding is exposing many interesting opportunities related to the potential for ex-FAANG folks that they may never have considered. If we all agree that software is eating the world, imagine what an unbelievably unfair advantage a FAANG-capable tech leader (or product leader) could have working as a leader inside of traditionally non-tech, smaller companies in industries not yet assaulted by tech workers. This is the entire premise of why I joined the private equity firm at which I now work. To find people like me and get them plugged into our portfolio companies as leaders and support the hell out of them as the control investor. To innovate with our portfolio to give their employees unfair competitive advantage in their industry. Chasing unicorns is all fine and good. The growth equity companies we target are already making money and we want them to grow faster. The risk of company failure is much lower when you have profits, and the risk of dilution to the employees goes way down when you aren't constant chasing funding. Many of the companies that we would target for investment would have no idea how to recruit an ex-FAANG, much less fully utilize them. That's my role across our portfolio. To any FAANG-capable mid and senior leaders who want to learn more, reach out to me. I'm easy to find, eager to talk to you, and have a very heavy belief in the notion that you can design the life you want while working on interesting companies and still achieving the financial outcomes that are commensurate with your potential in FAANG. |