Comments on: Jumping from a luxury liner to leaky ship – Why you need to join startups http://greenwhite.org/2007/07/04/jumping-from-a-luxury-liner-to-leaky-ship-why-you-need-to-join-startups/ Coffee Sessions for the Industry! Sat, 13 Mar 2010 22:34:09 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.1 hourly 1 By: Zafar Khan http://greenwhite.org/2007/07/04/jumping-from-a-luxury-liner-to-leaky-ship-why-you-need-to-join-startups/comment-page-1/#comment-5205 Zafar Khan Tue, 13 Nov 2007 04:47:46 +0000 http://greenwhite.org/2007/07/04/jumping-from-a-luxury-liner-to-leaky-ship-why-you-need-to-join-startups/#comment-5205 Osama, Thanks for the link as well as your thoughts. I wish your ideas could get disseminated more. While I could harp on the lack of confidence of new grads to risk getting into a startup...I would rather talk about what startups can do, to attract talent. We need to build success stories, to build excitement and demonstrations of people making it big. I honestly don't think such a thing can happen with a me-too-outsourcing company...startup or MNC. Startups are not for every body. You have to be a little bit crazy and way too optimistic to even want to get in. When I graduated from Caltech, I spurned offers from Xilinx, Sony and Oracle to join a 6 person startup. Two years, lots of headaches, heartaches, trials and tribulations later it had downsized to a 4 person company. I still have nightmares about those 2 crazy years...but I couldn't learn that much in 5 years! I made lots of money from stock options (and patents) from my next company, which grew from a 16 person to 3500 company in my 7 years there. Ceased to be fun when it became so big and I quit for my own startup. I don't think my path was necessarily better than others who just went to Oracle by default(for instance). Its just that I enjoyed the ride and wouldn't have it any other way.... Osama,
Thanks for the link as well as your thoughts. I wish your ideas could get disseminated more. While I could harp on the lack of confidence of new grads to risk getting into a startup…I would rather talk about what startups can do, to attract talent. We need to build success stories, to build excitement and demonstrations of people making it big. I honestly don’t think such a thing can happen with a me-too-outsourcing company…startup or MNC.
Startups are not for every body. You have to be a little bit crazy and way too optimistic to even want to get in. When I graduated from Caltech, I spurned offers from Xilinx, Sony and Oracle to join a 6 person startup. Two years, lots of headaches, heartaches, trials and tribulations later it had downsized to a 4 person company. I still have nightmares about those 2 crazy years…but I couldn’t learn that much in 5 years!
I made lots of money from stock options (and patents) from my next company, which grew from a 16 person to 3500 company in my 7 years there. Ceased to be fun when it became so big and I quit for my own startup.
I don’t think my path was necessarily better than others who just went to Oracle by default(for instance). Its just that I enjoyed the ride and wouldn’t have it any other way….

]]> By: Asif Mateen http://greenwhite.org/2007/07/04/jumping-from-a-luxury-liner-to-leaky-ship-why-you-need-to-join-startups/comment-page-1/#comment-1720 Asif Mateen Thu, 05 Jul 2007 11:44:52 +0000 http://greenwhite.org/2007/07/04/jumping-from-a-luxury-liner-to-leaky-ship-why-you-need-to-join-startups/#comment-1720 Osama, great article. Interestingly, today i read another article on the same topic here: http://www.resourcepad.com/blog/2007/07/05/big-firms-vs-startups-a-fresh-graduates-dilemma/ :) Osama, great article. Interestingly, today i read another article on the same topic here:

http://www.resourcepad.com/blog/2007/07/05/big-firms-vs-startups-a-fresh-graduates-dilemma/

:)

]]> By: mansoor http://greenwhite.org/2007/07/04/jumping-from-a-luxury-liner-to-leaky-ship-why-you-need-to-join-startups/comment-page-1/#comment-1685 mansoor Wed, 04 Jul 2007 05:59:08 +0000 http://greenwhite.org/2007/07/04/jumping-from-a-luxury-liner-to-leaky-ship-why-you-need-to-join-startups/#comment-1685 Thankyou osama. Very good insight. This is one of the battles i keep fighting in my life as well. I decided to join a startup, Business Beam, right out of college. My reasons at that point were simply because it was doing the work i wanted to get into, and i hated the corporate thing. Over time, i've had tremendous pressure from peers (who say i should've joined systems, kalsoft or 360 degreez as an s/w engineer) and my parents (who are skeptical of the small start-up idea and now want to see me into the 'big leagues', very valid for them, not so much for me). Over time, all the justifications you presented of joining a startup, from fixing leaking holes to getting rewarded with recognition to getting your ideas being implemented as corporate strategy have all been true, and while for a time in the middle i was skeptical myself of if this would be the "right way" to continue, i've decided MNC's or even large corporations are not my thing. I'd rather MAKE one than JOIN one. Thankyou osama. Very good insight.

This is one of the battles i keep fighting in my life as well. I decided to join a startup, Business Beam, right out of college. My reasons at that point were simply because it was doing the work i wanted to get into, and i hated the corporate thing.

Over time, i’ve had tremendous pressure from peers (who say i should’ve joined systems, kalsoft or 360 degreez as an s/w engineer) and my parents (who are skeptical of the small start-up idea and now want to see me into the ‘big leagues’, very valid for them, not so much for me).

Over time, all the justifications you presented of joining a startup, from fixing leaking holes to getting rewarded with recognition to getting your ideas being implemented as corporate strategy have all been true, and while for a time in the middle i was skeptical myself of if this would be the “right way” to continue, i’ve decided MNC’s or even large corporations are not my thing. I’d rather MAKE one than JOIN one.

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