No FAANG and being a founder

Yahoo
gggeeaaa

Go to company page Yahoo

gggeeaaa
Nov 1, 2020 8 Comments

Hello Blind,

My ultimate goal is to be a founder of a company I strongly believe in within 3-7 years(depending on factors like finding a good cofounder, research on market, product). Why not now? Due to Visa issues at the moment.

I am about to join a startup and reject offers from Microsoft and Twitch because I feel like I can learn a lot more relevant knowledge here than bigger companies.

VCs care a lot about founders and their background (to evaluate if you are qualified to carry out the promised plan). And working at companies like Google does help, although not a deal breaker for sure. The only company I have on my resume is Yahoo. I do not think Yahoo carries “prestige” anymore. If I join a startup now, and if the startup goes bankrupt, my resume will be not so great. Just Yahoo and a startup. Though I have a pretty good education background, BS in UC Berkeley EECS.

Is joining this startup better than Microsoft or Twitch? Since both are not really FAANG, will VCs simply not care? Does Yahoo on resume give some credentials about the person? Thanks!

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TOP 8 Comments
  • When you are young it is best to get to FAANG. It will definitely help with a lot of risks associated with doing a startup right now.

    Here are the advantages that i can think of:
    - Being in faang lets you put that brand in your resume, any VC will know that you are an engineer on that “level” and will more likely to fund you
    - You can network with smart people. I know my manager made a startup and couple people from his old company followed him
    - You can make initial capital from the high base salary and RSUs
    - FAANG is usually structured with bottoms up which is quite similiar to startup. You can learn how to collaborate delivering project with this culture. The only diff it will be slower as you need to do more cross function communication with other teams sometimes.
    Nov 1, 2020 0
  • New
    hon

    New

    hon
    The interesting part of the story is that, depending on your age , in 3-7 years you will be on a different stage of life with kids and marriage and other family obligations. Everyone around you is aging as well.

    If you have idea, you can start now and channelize your energy in that direction. You have to do MVP before jumping into funding anyways.

    You can be a founder and not the CEO.
    Nov 1, 2020 2
  • Google
    lenaTL

    Go to company page Google

    lenaTL
    Yahoo has bad perception, for sure doesn't look good. Microsoft and Twitch are not FAANG. If you can't get into FAANG now startup path is better. Then FAANG at least 1-2 years would be a plus.
    Nov 1, 2020 2
  • New
    CS96

    New

    CS96
    I've heard about Ironclad too. Would you be able to refer me for the PM position? Please search My Story! to understand my profile. I have posted on Blind. Thanks!
    Nov 1, 2020 0