Hmm, are software startups really high risk to founders? Does this argument even matter?
Liberal industry culture lets founders move in and out of startups, consulting and full-time arrangements. High compensation lets founding teams take sabbaticals often. If one has a reasonably low cost of living and a solid hourly rate, working 1/3 of the year vends 2/3s startup time.
Given that PG has said many YC founders are older, I'd expect they've moved into the low-risk category, extra responsibilities of life included. And the cost of software startups keeps coming down.
When I was reading this part in the Black Swan I realize how fortunate we are to work in software. It's one of very few fields where you can make a decent non-scalable income while at the same time (sometimes via the same actual product) being exposed to potentially huge scalable rewards. Guess we're just lucky :)
I'm curious about this. I've heard that failure is a badge of honor in Silicon Valley.
But I'm not comfortable starting up a company and going bankrupt. So if I was involved in a start up that ended up going bankrupt, how would that affect my career options? Is the employment rate for founders of failed executives high because a lot of jobs are open to them, or because the ones who can't find jobs end up quickly leaving Silicon Valley?
I realize that this probably isn't the right attitude to have if I would take a risk like founding a company. I'm just trying to decide how comfortable I am with the worst case scenario.
In my experience, nobody cares. Most people admire you for having the guts to have started one in the first place, and executives (often people who have started companies too, and have buried them) will be happy to hire you.
And I actually moved into Silicon Valley, coming off a failed startup. I'm not sure I could've gotten my job here otherwise.
Liberal industry culture lets founders move in and out of startups, consulting and full-time arrangements. High compensation lets founding teams take sabbaticals often. If one has a reasonably low cost of living and a solid hourly rate, working 1/3 of the year vends 2/3s startup time.
Given that PG has said many YC founders are older, I'd expect they've moved into the low-risk category, extra responsibilities of life included. And the cost of software startups keeps coming down.
Edit: ignoring non-software, here.