[skellera]

I’m sure things used to be this way but “we’re like a startup” is so overused in big tech these days. It’s usually an excuse for something wrong rather than the benefits of a startup.

I wish we were building for customers instead of building for my or someone in my leadership chain’s promotion. I think most companies start with that focus then lose it after a certain size. Most of the engineers working on projects don’t even care about the product.

[allenu]

I worked in a "startup-like" team at a big company a few years ago. It was fun in that we moved quickly since we had fewer processes than typical teams at Big Co. Over time though, I realized we were just making stuff to make some higher-up happy, and not really chasing a customer.

I also found out we were funded just to light a fire under another team that moved very slowly. Whatever we made would be taken back to that team and we'd have to sell them on using it, and also show them what was possible.

Ultimately, we were just a cog in this larger machine. Nowadays I don't really trust anybody at big companies that says "our team is like a startup".

[rgblambda]

> “we’re like a startup” is so overused in big tech these days. It’s usually an excuse for something wrong rather than the benefits of a startup.

I've only ever heard that phrase or something approximating it used to excuse bad practices.

[halvo]

My “we’re like a startup” experience was all the uncertainty of a startup along with all the bureaucracy of big tech which resulted in pivoting to a new 12 month roadmap every 6 months…

[JohnFen]

Yes. "We're like a startup" is a bit of a tipoff that a) the company is no longer like a startup and b) the company has completely forgotten what it's like to be a startup.

[slowmovintarget]

There's a point where you graduate and mature your products, reaching out to adjacent markets. Startups can't and shouldn't do that. If you're a big company acting like a startup, you're losing ground.

[lukefischer]

I think that’s a big generalization and depends on the company of course. I made a point at SkyFi about treating every customer as if they were Carmack