
Ask HN: Jobs after startup flop - brokeStartupGuy
Over the last couple years I&#x27;ve launched a few startups, each of which failed in relatively quick succession. Everything was bootstrapped (although we did interview with TechStars) and I&#x27;m left in a pretty dire financial situation. I&#x27;m still working on one of the projects and keeping it alive on credit which isn&#x27;t sustainable for much longer, unless we&#x27;re somehow accepted to YC.<p>So to regroup and dig out of this hole, I&#x27;m in the unenviable position of looking for gainful employment after a string of failures. While I&#x27;d like to find a role where I can keep learning so that I&#x27;m a better founder next time, getting some cash is the first priority. I&#x27;m also not sure what sort of jobs I&#x27;m qualified for... like many founders I did a bit of everything so my skillset is more broad than deep. I built the tech for my startups (CRUD apps, nothing fancy) and am about 2 chapters through SICP, but I&#x27;m not sure I&#x27;m advanced&#x2F;skilled enough for a software engineering position in the Valley.<p>Before the startups I was an i-banking analyst at GS&#x2F;JPM&#x2F;MS and I passed all the CFA exams. So on paper that&#x27;s an option, although what I&#x27;ve been doing the past couple years is so far off the finance radar that I&#x27;m probably entirely unemployable on Wall Street. And the expectation of being at the office 80+ hours per week would seriously limit my ability to hack on stuff and explore new startup ideas on the side.<p>I was almost able to use an MBA (I know, sorry) as an escape hatch to regroup and figure things out but, after interviewing with HBS, I was waitlisted and eventually rejected so that&#x27;s off the list.<p>Any ideas on where I should be looking or how to approach this? I&#x27;m likely to jump back into startups as soon as my financial situation stabilizes so length of employment is another thing for me to consider - I don&#x27;t want to leave anyone in a bind.
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jesusmichael
This is the journey of every success. My advice is not to narrow your vision
on what you do for work. I worked at a bar, I rebuilt car engines, all while
coming home at night and writing code, and building a business plan.

Find work... work your dream. If you have good ideas... keep going... keep
building...

If you're not married and you want to work. Move out of the valley... You're
smart and resourceful. You won't be at the bottom long, but you have to start
somewhere.

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hglaser
The more early-stage a startup is, the more they probably value startup-y
breadth and self-motivation higher than raw in experience in any one category.
So looking for early-stage startups where your last couple years will be a
strength, not a weakness, might work well.

The monthly "Who's Hiring" posts and YC company job posts will be great
sources these kinds of companies.

