Hi folks, thinking of writing a regular mini blog here about my learnings being a generalist in the ecosystem. I currently handle growth at an ecom startup and have previously been through 2-3 startups + a large corporate in my 7 year career.
#1: Why you should not stay only in startups
Recently started reflecting on salaries of many peers who are also startup folks and trying to see where it stands. There are 3 cohorts: a. People who started out in Big 4/Corporate & then became a generalist: They've been underpaid the most. First pay was 4-5L, and when they transitioned to startups, started at 7-9L. Over time, growing from there is difficult without MBA.
b. People who have forever been in startups: They earn more than A on average. But here too, there is a delta in their salaries vs. people with same YoE who went to an MBA and are in corporate now. Side note: I've seen this cohort has usually loved what they've done, and being in startups definitely has positively impacted their thought process.
c. People who went to a corporate/big tech etc. mid way: This cohort has done the best long term. Their pay got recalibrated when they went to a larger company in the middle through their career, and when they rejoined startups, they were respected more in salary negotiation.
This is to anybody out there who is a generalist and sees a similar path. Try to sandwich a proper, large company in your career. It gives you perspective on whether you like it and if startups is really your preferred route. And it also recalibrates your pay.
Startups will limit you basis your last salary. Corporates have standards basis bands. Just something to think over.
NOTE: Do share feedback, if this makes sense. And if you'd like to read more of these too.
Not only compensation, corporates help you to learn saying âNOâ to not-related tasks. I see young startup folks in the name of âlearningâ are forced to do anything and everything. In my first startup role, I was handling the responsibilities of a PM + ops, which burnt me like anything without any significant skills gain. Corporate taught me delegation, saying âNoâ to things which arenât part of your team.
Very good point. Didn't realize this, but yes. Realized what is right and what isn't in many ways at the corporate.
Itâs actually a great first job, that makes you a super employee for corporate and big tech - theyâll hire you over another prick from consulting.
Then youâll join and feel wtf is this, I want to build again - so youâre able to come back to startups at a higher pay đȘ
Best of all worlds đđŒ
Started from big tech - Less pay, limited learning and growth.
But had a better work balance
Joined startup 3 years back. Great salary, great hike. Leaned a lot not only in my expertise but entirety of a product .
Did big tech help get a better salary at the startup, in your case?
SOS! LinkedIn Invasion! SOS!
Haha No, that's not the intention I promise. The difference is on LinkedIn people do it to make themselves looks smart in front of their network. My core motivation with this is that hopefully a few people actually find this helpful.
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It's been 8 months since my first job where I'm one of the initial engineers at an early stage startup and the amount of stuff I have learned and still learning is 10x more than my friends working at SBCs and PBCs. Initially it was hard as you have to understand the codebase and how things work but luckily I picked it up in a month. I never got the chance to do an internship during my BTech. WFH, decent pay and no work pressure
@AlphaGrindset Out of sheer curiosity
What would you say is the motivation/fear behind publishing learnings like this on an anonymous platform, or conversely whatâs stopping you from publishing this on a platform like LinkedIn?
My unsolicited opinion - If you think your learnings are helpful (which they definitely can be to others) why not open it up to a wider audience. As a tiny by-product you even get to build a bit of a personal brand, which today is undeniably a positive to have on your portfolio. Anonymity is not really lending itself here. Au contraire, it might defeat the credibility of the cautionary, experiential advice you want to give.
May be testing the waters here, getting feedback, and then publishing it on LinkedIn if it seems to be making sense to a lot of people; as itâs gonna be published with their name attached to it.
And it does make sense. A lot of people publish a lot âhot takesâ on LinkedIn without checking the validity of the opinion. It seems like they published the first draft which needed a lot of revisions (talking about correctness, not just the way in which it is presented).
Also, maybe grapevine is just the right forum for this. Letâs be honest, we canât be sure how people are going to react to a post which is centred around being paid well - even if it is just for the sake of virtue signalling.
A lot *of âhot takesââŠ
So you're saying the best career path monetarily is startup - > big tech to -> startup or vice versa?
How about those joined big company as freshers
Started my career at TCS with 3.5 package, was learning a lot due to good tl. Frustrated by politics switched jobs to a us based startup salary jumped from 4 to 8. Again learned a lot as everyone else was 20+ exp old engineers. Worked there for 5+ years and quit at 25L. Joined an indian startup at 40L and still working here.
First job in a startup can give you a good head start for your career. I personally am grateful that I started off in a startup. I am currently working in a startup and I really like the work and the culture (never thought Id be able to say something like this about a startup đ ).
I've been in startups for the last 8 years. From Series B/C onwards to even a unicorn, over time worked at 3. One of them was an outright scam, raised many millions of $s from top investors, and then ultimately died. Also close with ...
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