Well, the networking continues. I had conversations with three people over the past few days that have firmed up my thoughts and clarified how I should proceed. Below is a summary along with an assessment of where I’m at. In retrospect these conclusions seem somewhat obvious—especially to anybody who has already been involved in startups. However, I don’t know that I could have reached these conclusions with strong conviction without going through the process that I have. In any event, the timing is good as this weekend I leave for a two week vacation which will give me a much-needed opportunity to step back, take a break, and re-examine things with a fresh perspective.
The three people with whom I met recently have all been involved in various startups roles including CEO, CTO, COO, VP Product, VP Business Development, and investor. The topic which I explored most deeply in these conversations was how to go about achieving the goal I’ve established—to be a startup CEO.
There was a high degree of consistency amongst what I heard. The common view was that I would have a hard time right now getting somebody to hire me as the CEO of an existing startup. Without regards to what talents I may have the fact is that investors invariably seek somebody who has startup leadership experience when hiring a CEO. The few exceptions are special cases where specialized knowledge in a particular market area is needed or the job involves a turn-around situation that may not be attractive to experienced startup CEOs.
This leaves me with two options. The first, of course, is to start my own company and make myself the CEO. The second option is to first find a position on a startup’s executive team and not be the CEO. It doesn’t really matter whether this is an early- or late-stage startup as either would offer the learning experiences that I’m seeking. This would seem to be the more prudent, methodical approach. However, I have to admit I am intrigued by the notion of jumping right in and starting my own company right away so I am keeping both options open for the moment. The key, in either case, is to find an idea/technology/position that I feel passionate about.
This leads me to the second topic—that of what technology/market area I want to work in. As I have previously noted the field in which I have been working, semiconductors, is a pretty mature space without nearly as much investment occurring as with other technologies. However, it is the space I know best and remain interested in. Transitioning to other areas is certainly possible and something I am considering.
I’m going to allow things to “settle” for the next two weeks while I am away. However, I am thinking that the time has come to focus in on one or two specific technology areas, while keeping open the options of joining an existing startup or founding my own. To be specific, below are my next steps open returning from vacation:
- Continue to participate in advisory/mentoring opportunities.
- Select two technology areas. Upon researching a range of options I would focus in on two areas that offer good opportunities and also spark my interest.
- Within my selected areas start looking for startup positions in parallel with exploring the possibility of starting my own company.
That’s it for now. We’ll see what a two week break does to my thinking…