So, I had spent the last number of years figuring out what I don’t want to do – work at large companies that lack sufficient entrepreneurial opportunities. But now that I am out the more difficult question remains – what do I want to do?
In this early stage of exploration I have come to realize this question has more dimensions than I first thought. Yes, there are the obvious ones:
- What technology?
- What market?
But beyond these questions there are others as well:
- Start my own company or join an existing one?
- Early- or late-stage start-up?
- Role: CEO? VP Marketing? VP Engineering?
(Does it matter that much in a startup?) - Location: Boston? US? Foreign?
And there are yet even further ones revolving around how I reach my end point:
- Immerse myself at the first reasonable opportunity that I encounter and see what happens?
- “Survey the field” for some number of months and then pick the most attractive opportunity?
- Mentor/coach one or more startups and see where that leads?
- Other?
As I write this I come to realize that I probably have the wrong objective in mind. Instead of thinking in terms of “finding my next job” I probably need to have a more meaningful and audacious objective in mind – something along the lines of “be a founder/leader of a successfully exited startup”. My next position might be as the founder of the next Google or it might be something else that serves as a stepping-stone.
So, of all the questions whirling around in my mind the most important to answer first might be whether I should be looking for a startup or an idea for a startup. If I can answer this then I will better able to answer the question I commonly get at networking events: “So, what do you want to do?”