I've been talking to a few companies about VP Eng roles -- as got nowhere getting VC interest in a new project I've been kicking around
3 companies I've had detailed discussions with so far all want someone to hire 200-400 new devs in UK/DE this year -- and I've seen several other posts with similar aspirations in diff sectors
So that's 1K-2K devs needed that I know (from management/investor 'needs', I'm not convinced the engineering requirement really needs anywhere near that) ... all in same space ... all same job spec ... some willing to pay whatever is required
Much of that in the new fast groceries sector -- I don't think people understand how disruptive that is going to be (in more ways than just wrecking current physical grocery sector)
However, having spent time with funds now -- it feels like those two criteria (market/team) are defined with heavy bias to what exists today
So building some radically new tech -- that is not directly comparable to unicorn X or Y who vaguely exist in a similar space -- will fail at first funding hurdle unless you move that R&D work closer to what X or Y are doing -- to the point you're just building a clone of something successful today
This potentially eliminates a lot of tech that is innovative -- try showing a VC some tech that is not SaaS right now as what you're trying to achieve doesn't lend itself to that model
Same on the team front -- VCs appear to expect a founding team to be defined as B, C, D and any team that does not fit those boxes must be missing some critical skills -- leading to pressure on founders to fill gaps at start that they don't think are gaps -- just to jump through some artificial hoop set by the VCs who only seem to want to put pegs into predefined holes
An interesting exercise would be for just one fund to not care about deck spacing, font and background ... or whether they have a CEO ... or if founders are ex-FB ...
A fund that just backs raw R&D ... with no referrals or exit history ... only evals the tech on merit
The few pure R&D funds that do that, to my knowledge, are restricted to university spin-outs right now
As things stand today -- the individuals (I know) most capabable of building awesome engineering are the least likely to get through the current VC obstacle courses -- who are all looking for the same needle in the same haystack
Having tried to get a project away for 2 months (and failed so far)
It seems like there are a lot of potential CEOs out there with ideas looking for a CTO to do the heavy lifting -- and the VCs are all over them -- met multiple in last few weeks with nothing more than an idea
As an engineer, with a vast piece of prototype tech funded myself up to this point, and no CEO -- because I don't really want a CEO right now, just some additional R&D funding to clean things up to start that commercialising process -- but VCs don't appear to want to hear that
Ex-meme company founder CEOs good, heavy tech R&D without that bad
You have to wonder how much deep tech is out there looking for home right now -- that can't get an investor audience without complying with the narrow criteria VCs are putting in place -- 90%+ won't even talk to you if you've not been personally referred
3 companies I've had detailed discussions with so far all want someone to hire 200-400 new devs in UK/DE this year -- and I've seen several other posts with similar aspirations in diff sectors
So that's 1K-2K devs needed that I know (from management/investor 'needs', I'm not convinced the engineering requirement really needs anywhere near that) ... all in same space ... all same job spec ... some willing to pay whatever is required
Much of that in the new fast groceries sector -- I don't think people understand how disruptive that is going to be (in more ways than just wrecking current physical grocery sector)