

Why I left consulting and joined a startup - wetzler
http://blog.keen.io/post/26096112831/why-i-left-consulting-and-joined-a-startup
My first real blog post... I hope you like it!
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dangrover
I did the opposite. I had a modest exit on my startup, and worked for the
acquirer until my time was up. Then, instead of just taking a dang break, I
was wooed by a Random Giant Agency with more than I'll ever make as straight
salary in my life probably.

Despite how well I was treated in general, it was the most angst-inducing and
soul-draining experience of my life. I left after only a few months and felt
incredibly spoiled for doing so. Now I'm a smelly startup hippy again.

~~~
dkador
Like Michelle points out - once you make above a certain amount, money doesn't
really move the happiness meter much. At least for certain people! You and I
seem like we're among that bunch.

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kylemaxwell
I like that "rested racehorses" metaphor: have the ability to run fast when
required, but not all the time to the point where you break down. Let's hope
that doesn't turn into a cliche someplace!

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dorkitude
Agreed. We stole it from Jim Franklin (TechStars mentor and SendGrid CEO), who
gave a great talk at TechStars Cloud on leadership and company culture. This
is just one of the many concepts he covered that we've since internalized :)

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AznHisoka
"Mostly, I was growing tired of implementing <some old-school technology> to
solve <some generic enterprise problem>. I’m a builder at heart, and I wanted
to contribute to Creating a Thing"

Consulting offers a great balance between personal freedom, and cash flow, and
that to me is one of its greatest strengths. You get the small team comraderie
too, as you mentioned. With a startup, if you can build that product, yes,
then a startup is ideal. But that's extremely tough.

For me, I'm willing to sacrifice a small piece of my freedom in exchange for
that cash flow.

~~~
cageface
At my last job I was making way more money than I could realistically spend,
but there was no way I could go half-time and get those precious hours back
for other things.

Consulting gives me that freedom, which I appreciate more and more as the
years go by.

~~~
wetzler
That is awesome that you made the jump from enterprise to working for yourself
(or at least being able to set your own work pace). Are you independent or do
you work with a firm? I think my consulting firm had some flexible work
options. I know one person who worked only 4 days per week. But I don't think
I ever saw anyone go half-time. That's a great option you have.

~~~
cageface
I'm indie right now. I spent the last year trying to make a living selling my
own iOS apps and not making much money. But it looks like the freelance iOS
market is pretty good so I'm shifting my focus to contracting.

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cageface
I've just started doing consulting for the first time in my life, but it's all
remote work which lets me spend all my free time here in lovely Nha Trang,
Vietnam. It would appeal much less if I had to travel to client offices all
the time.

It's too early to tell if this approach really has legs but if I can keep it
up it's hard to imagine what would entice me back into a salaried job again.

~~~
cgag
This is why I'm interested in starting freelancing/consulting. I think I'd
enjoy being location independent more than I'd enjoy working at someone else's
startup. Living somewhere cheap and only working part time while spending the
rest of my time focusing on my own stuff really appeals to me. I haven't
really figured out how to go about starting yet though.

What's your cost of living like in Nha Trang?

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cageface
Yeah exactly. If you're not too materialistic you don't have too work too many
hours to pay the bills and that leaves you with a lot of time to work on your
own ideas and/or just enjoy life.

Vietnam is very cheap. I can live quite comfortably here for about $1000/month
and I could squeeze it down to about $600 if necessary. I'm currently renting
a big, comfortable house within walking distance of the beach for about $350 a
month. If you're at all interested in the hacker commune idea you could easily
fit four people in a house this big and basically live for peanuts.

~~~
cgag
I actually very recently searched HN for "hacker commune", I'm definitely open
to it. Unfortunately I don't have many friends who I think would be
interested, though it sounds pretty affordable even alone.

One of my major concerns is finding apartments. How do you manage to find
short term leases, especially when you don't speak the language? I'm also
curious about how you handle health insurance and cell phone usage. Could you
point me in the right direction with these things? Any links would be great,
my email is in my profile if you don't want to keep going on this thread.

~~~
cageface
The best thing is to make some local friends that will help you out with this
kind of thing, but there are also rental agencies etc that can help you. Cell
phone usage is simple. Just buy a SIM card in any shop and pop it in your
phone.

For insurance I've used World Nomad's travel insurance.

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petercooper
_My equity stake and the small size of our team means my work directly
contributes to the value of the company, which in turn contributes to my own
personal net worth._

Only going off of anecdotes here, but doesn't it take being a very early or
significant employee plus a big dollop of luck to get enough equity to make it
"interesting" in net worth terms? (The author seems to be an early employee,
but from employees of startups I know, being employee 43 or whatever gets
quite boring equity wise..)

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beambot
Perhaps I'm reading that statement wrong... what does equity stake and team
size have to do with _your work producing value for the company_? Maybe you're
less motivated, but your work is either producing value or not -- regardless
of equity stake. Awkward wording, I suppose...?

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petercooper
The role of money is implied a few times in the post (salary, net worth, etc.)
While "producing value for the company" will have an effect on your continued
employment and equity stake over the long term, if you only own 0.1% of the
company, it's potentially not an "interesting" amount in terms of affecting
your net worth (e.g. $200k at a $200M acquisition - not chump change, but your
salary drop may already have swallowed that potential gain). Of course, 0.1%
might be totally unrealistic, I'm just throwing a number in the air :-)

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nekojima
As much as I've enjoyed working in several start-ups, I've been looking to go
to consulting for more than a year and finding it tough.

In part its the level I'm "expected" to go into at (Manager), when I don't
have consulting experience and the reluctance for firms to let me willingly
start at a lower level to learn those internal skills and knowledge. I also
doubt start-up experience is valued as much in the countries I'm most likely
to work in, as it is in the US.

~~~
wetzler
I think you have the right idea about going in at a lower level first. I saw
managers hired from outside of the consulting world get crushed. Even after
climbing my way up the ladder, I sometimes felt a bit in over my head as a
manager. They really expect you to have a lot of things polished -
understanding project financials/contracts, presenting to client execs,
negotiating with other vendors, managing your team, the firm's project
methodology, etc. That last one would be especially challenging for someone
new to the company. Is there a way to tailor your resume/experience so that it
looks more natural for you to be started as an experienced consultant rather
than a manager?

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nekojima
Yes, that's what I've been doing (aiming for Consultant instead of manager).

Another issue which is largely unsaid, but was in one interview when I made
final round interview with the Partner, was that I was possibly "too old" for
Consultant level for most of the larger firms doing the international work I'm
most interested in. I was older than all of their managers and he had concerns
they wouldn't be able to give me instructions. My reply was that I was
willingly going in at that level to learn and if feel intimidated to give me
instructions, that says more about their own potential and level of
confidence.

~~~
wetzler
Wow. Age discrimination is illegal here in the US. I was a young manager and
all of my direct reports were older, some of them over a decade older. Not a
problem. Sounds like a place I wouldn't want to work anyway!!

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coreygoodie
As a consultant looking to make the jump, this spoke volumes to me and I think
it's just the push I need to make the jump.

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wetzler
Do it! Let me know if you want to chat. I had a lot more to write but had to
cut the thing down so that other humans could read it.

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wetzler
I just looked at my metrics dashboard. Wow! Almost 4,000 hits from hacker
news! thanks ya'll, hope you got some value out of it!

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bradfeld
Such an awesome explanation on making the jump.

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wetzler
I've been reading your blog for months, so this makes me really happy :)

