> I’m 42 and I’ve been all of these things at different times.
Believer - When you first join the company and they sell you on the vision
Grinder - You work hard for a year or two to make a difference
Coaster - You realize you wont get promoted, they company will always have no money on the bonus pool, except for the execs. And that the company will go on by sheer force of momentum, not by your grinding.
Grifter - You see the company hire friend after friend of execs, friends' kids as interns, friends' wives as Executive Directors, execs' girlfriends as "Chief of Staff" - and you realize you need to get something too, so you use company time to form your own startup.
Now you repeat the cycle, except you are the person at the top and someone else goes thru these stages.
> You see the company hire friend after friend of execs, friends' kids as interns, friends' wives as Executive Directors, execs' girlfriends as "Chief of Staff" - and you realize you need to get something too, so you use company time to form your own startup.
They do this because no one wants to work at their startup. How do you see this being solved then?
>> They do this because no one wants to work at their startup. How do you see this being solved then?
Not really. Startups cannot really operate without doers, and most doers want something out of the experience -- equity, money, promotion, etc.
I've seen two start-ups (one Series A SF startup with bigname VCs) which promoted VC-frields' kids while the doers waited and waited.
In one case, the "child" was 25yo, became manager 6mo later, became Director 6mo after that, became senior Director 6mo after that. Some facebook stalking revealed the relationship, some photos at Lake Tahoe.
Eventually the startup collapsed because there were so many senior folks w/o real experience. I saw the same individuals follow leadership to a new company, which also had a huge implosion.
I find it really funny to be in some place where there is a privileged class, particularly when I discover it gradually. I can see how some people would find it infuriating.
Believer - When you first join the company and they sell you on the vision
Grinder - You work hard for a year or two to make a difference
Coaster - You realize you wont get promoted, they company will always have no money on the bonus pool, except for the execs. And that the company will go on by sheer force of momentum, not by your grinding.
Grifter - You see the company hire friend after friend of execs, friends' kids as interns, friends' wives as Executive Directors, execs' girlfriends as "Chief of Staff" - and you realize you need to get something too, so you use company time to form your own startup.
Now you repeat the cycle, except you are the person at the top and someone else goes thru these stages.