Ask HN: Do failed engineer founders have trouble getting hired?
20 comments
Yeah, I have personally made that experience and received the same feedback directly from hiring companies and headhunters.
A close friend of mine had to emigrate to another country after successfully exiting his startup with tens of millions in the bank. Top recruiting firms in the US didn’t know what to do with him and considered him not “specialized enough” for the US market.
Other markets such as Europe hire very differently. There, employers aren’t necessarily looking to fill narrow roles with “bandaid employees”, but want people to have breadth and grow within the business across future roles.
In fact, this is precisely the feedback I also got from a top headhunting firm where I worked with the head of US tech recruiting and the EU counterparts.
Put differently, the “founder penalty” isn’t as much of an issue overseas.
I’m still baffled by it…
A close friend of mine had to emigrate to another country after successfully exiting his startup with tens of millions in the bank. Top recruiting firms in the US didn’t know what to do with him and considered him not “specialized enough” for the US market.
Other markets such as Europe hire very differently. There, employers aren’t necessarily looking to fill narrow roles with “bandaid employees”, but want people to have breadth and grow within the business across future roles.
In fact, this is precisely the feedback I also got from a top headhunting firm where I worked with the head of US tech recruiting and the EU counterparts.
Put differently, the “founder penalty” isn’t as much of an issue overseas.
I’m still baffled by it…
Startup experience isn't valued by anyone at large companies. They are there because those people don't value the skills needed to succeed in a startup, which is generalism and the ability to learn and apply new things quickly. It isn't looked down upon except by a few insecure people, which you can find anywhere, but it definitely isn't valued.
Yeah this has been my observation too. The best way to get hired at Big Tech is to have already worked at Big Tech. The next best way is to brush up on your leetcode, which is definitely not something founder types typically want to do.
Fair enough. Not sure if big tech would be the only options for said person, maybe a series A/B/C co?
Most startups fail because of business side problems, not technical problems.
Sales and marketing are hard, and most startups grossly underestimate how hard it is to sell their idea/product/company. The tech side is usually pretty easy by comparison.
So unless you wrote your backend with Access, you should be OK. And even then Access might have been the Right Choice at the Time.
Sales and marketing are hard, and most startups grossly underestimate how hard it is to sell their idea/product/company. The tech side is usually pretty easy by comparison.
So unless you wrote your backend with Access, you should be OK. And even then Access might have been the Right Choice at the Time.
According to one recent study, yes:
https://insights.som.yale.edu/insights/startup-founders-are-...
https://insights.som.yale.edu/insights/startup-founders-are-...
People tend to gauge others by their own strengths. Your experience building a company from 0 to 5000 monthly users won't be valued as much by a tech lead who manages a product with 5 million daily users.
I ended up in jobs building things from scratch after that. Consulting for pre-investment companies. Consulting billion dollar companies who wanted a full rewrite of their flagship product. Building experimental products for startups.
But in the past, the demand for engineers is extremely high and it's not hard to find a job anyway.
I ended up in jobs building things from scratch after that. Consulting for pre-investment companies. Consulting billion dollar companies who wanted a full rewrite of their flagship product. Building experimental products for startups.
But in the past, the demand for engineers is extremely high and it's not hard to find a job anyway.
how did you find your startup clients as a consultant, and how did you find the billion dollar companies?
Short answer: network.
One client was a VC. Another did PR for corporations who did startupish events (hackathons, incubators, go to market events). 80% of startup projects came from there.
Billion dollar company was a client of a friend. He delivered a major project for them, got first notice for the new one, and assembled people for it.
Networking isn't just going around meeting people. You have to put in the work and deliver over expectations every time before they'll recommend you to bigger people.
One client was a VC. Another did PR for corporations who did startupish events (hackathons, incubators, go to market events). 80% of startup projects came from there.
Billion dollar company was a client of a friend. He delivered a major project for them, got first notice for the new one, and assembled people for it.
Networking isn't just going around meeting people. You have to put in the work and deliver over expectations every time before they'll recommend you to bigger people.
There's no concrete black and white answer here. I'd bet a small percentage of people might hold a startup failure against you for some irrational reason.
But the vast majority of experienced people in the industry understand that a very large percentage of startups don't survive more than a year or two and if you were able to execute technically, that's what matters.
But the vast majority of experienced people in the industry understand that a very large percentage of startups don't survive more than a year or two and if you were able to execute technically, that's what matters.
Yes, being a founder is like a "do not hire" stamp. Half of the interviewers feel insecure and start a pissing contest. The other half feel like I might be too opinionated (I'm not, everybody loves me after I eventually get hired).
Would suggest you preface this with "Ask HN"
My 2 cents: nope, not for most companies. Of course the tech skills have to be there, but being a founder shows a level of commitment and care for the user that I'd love to see in every senior engineer.
My 2 cents: nope, not for most companies. Of course the tech skills have to be there, but being a founder shows a level of commitment and care for the user that I'd love to see in every senior engineer.
Personally from what I've seen, yes! Recruiters don't see your founder experience as real experience. And engineering managers think you will get bored and won't like doing the grunt work.
Anecdotal, but I did not experience this at all. I bootstrapped a B2B SaaS company to exit, worked for the acquiring company for two years, and then applied to (and got offers from) ~5 companies in the startup and FAANG-adjacent space. Not a single one seemed to consider my experience negatively. In fact, most commented on it positively and it seemed to help make the initial phone screen rounds go quite well (recruiters and hiring managers were really drawn to asking about my experience as a founder).
What you're describing (bootstrapping a company to exit) doesn't seem at all like a failure.
Gah, seems I missed one of the most load bearing words in the title!
That being said, I’ve worked with, and hired folks who had startups that fizzled out and they didn’t seem to feel that they were at a disadvantage. As a hiring manager now, I’d certainly view any founder experience positively (although I’m admittedly biased).
That being said, I’ve worked with, and hired folks who had startups that fizzled out and they didn’t seem to feel that they were at a disadvantage. As a hiring manager now, I’d certainly view any founder experience positively (although I’m admittedly biased).
No, I do not believe engineer founders have problems getting hired. They are "experienced" and "know the ropes". Startups rarely fail because of a boffo in engineering.
I've never heard of this being a problem. Depending on the company you're applying to, it could actually be a point in your favor. It shows initiative, etc.
Some companies actually look for this. IIRC rippling has a specific job posting for this.
Not sure about that, but successful ones do (personal experience).
If you raised money but eventually your startup failed, would you as founder of a SaaS company have more trouble getting hired as a senior engineer than if you had never founded a company?
I find this hard to believe but I could be totally wrong.