| I think the best way to do well after failure is to be intellectually honest with yourself. Polonius said it best "To thine own self be true." As an engineer, in Seattle and the Bay Area, you will always have access to jobs. For non-technical founders, you will have had gained valuable experience that will make you significantly more attractive. You often have to wear multiple hats, manage your time, focus on what matters, and you gain a lot of experience in finance, shipping product, dealing with investors, dealing with customers, all of which is harder to get if you have a specific role at a larger organization. Now, there are startups, and there are startups. If you quit your job and tinker at something for a few months to a few years and never really do anything to show for it (ship an MVP, hire an employee or two, raise or attempt to raise money), then, I imagine you didn't really learn anything, but if you were able to do those things, you will have gained real world applicable experience. Being a founder, was the 2nd best thing that I could have ever done to my career. My start-up didn't fail, but I ended up leaving because I was slowing it down. My role now is basically a founder working for a late stage organization. I use lean methodology and entrepreneurship thinking to build new services to explore untapped market opportunities. Instead of raising funding with investors, my company will fund the growth of the service into a full fledged business unit. |