During my long career in IT, I have been fortunate to work in pretty chill medium to large enterprises with little overtime and a generally good work culture.
I have received a job offer from a three-year-old SAAS startup company, which is series A funded with 300 million JPY, 20 employees, and an annual recurring revenue of 106 million last year.
Is it too risky to join the company?
4 comments
In the same position, just got promoted in my soulless megacorp which is where I decided to stay.
Maybe if I was young I’d be willing to gamble but I’m almost 40 and would prefer not to risk my quality of life…even though the start up has a really cool product.
If this company is making actual revenue on their own without having to be propped up by another company, I’d say go for it.
If it was the startup my company is working with right now I’d say run for the hills.
I’m in my 40s, and 3 years ago I changed my dev position in a Japanese mega corporation to a job in a similar startup you are describing. I had similar worries to you, and almost gave up on it before finally accepting their offer.
Best decision ever.
All the red tape, office politics, and shitty managers are gone. Now I get to work on what I feel is important, and do it the way I want to do it, just by talking it over with the others and getting a quick “ok”, instead of waiting to insert it into next year’s plan and suffering through endless meetings.
I admit that I got really, really lucky, and it could have gone sideways, too, but I’ve definitely decided to keep working in the startup world instead of returning to large companies, even if it would mean looking for a new job every few years. If you have some niche experience, like GIS or AI, that weights a lot more than your age.
Equity?