One important thing to consider within this framework is where you are in your career.
It was incredibly frustrating working for FAANG and a unicorn as a recent grad - I had zero seat at the table and it was maddening how little progress was made.
When I moved to smaller startups, I was able to join as a senior leader with agency. Even though we faced the fear of running out of money and layoffs and tons of pressure to grow with limited resources, it ended up being far less stressful because of that agency.
Yes, and the flipside of this is that the startup thing gets old as you age. Most people don’t want to be looking for new jobs in every 1-3 years into their 40s and 50s, which is what early-stage is like for most people (usually the company fails, or succeeds but changes so much that you’re no longer the great fit you once were.)
All I wanted when I was young was dynamic, risky, early stage - now I’d love to get into a big tanker but it’s hard to do without more specialization than you often get at startups.
Absolutely love this post, having a dilemma of pivoting from a tanker to an early stage pre-series A startup early in my career (2 years of work exp) this post gave me much more clarity on making my decision. Thanks!
Elena - love your piece and it is highly relevant to me right now. I'm a new parent so curious to know what archetype(s) would probably make sense for my current life stage with a newborn and the months/year(s) to come. I have high ambition and desire for achievement, but am a newcomer to this career crossroad.
this is soooo useful and timely for me! I live in Nigeria and work remotely for a US startup, and even though I get a lot of really good feedback about my work, I’ve recently started craving a lot of mentorship and guidance from seniors who have threaded similar paths.
Lots of ‘putting out the fires’ but so little strategic growth and mentorship.
Amazing post, it's so important to think about where you are going to work as it will surely have an impact on the skills you learn and then your career
My observation from having worked at multiple startups (pre-A through to post D), is there is one more archetype which is somewhat similar to declining giant, except much smaller and hasn't really achieved any real success in the past. A zombie, dead but doesnt realise it yet. Not dying fast enough to run out of cash soon, but definitely declining with little hope for turnaround. All the real talent moves on, leaving folks behind who either can't leave (founders) or the low performers who are just cashing pay checks till it finally folds.
1) I think a lot of big public tech companies that aren't proverbial FAANG are kinda on the 2/3 line which actually creates a massive opportunity for mid/mid-senior people. It's not Yahoo/IBM bad but fires do need to be lit by new blood. Paradoxically, think there is good opportunity here for folks coming from startup leadership to land in this world and make more a lot more money/do something different while getting to still play some of their strengths. Some bias as this is literally what I am doing starting next week :)
2) I've done two startup adventures that were "not quite unicorns", all post-PMF, all growing fast but not at Clay rate, one which had a nice mow/mid nine-figure exit.
This is a sucker's bet on paper. You make less money than you would at other archetypes, don't get a huge equity outcome or a marquis name on your resume and still work hard. But you get the deep friendships, LOLZ and just absurd experiences that come from the unicorns and it isn't life encompassing. You get the vibes without that 3AM slack thing.
Of course-- these might go by the wayside with more power law dynamics in an AI world. But lotsa good memories can be made here with no burnout.
I should also add-- it's hard as hell to reverse break back into big tech once you're a proverbial startup guy/gal. I have a good startup resume, had a number of BD leader/VP type opportunities at good companies at Series B-C stage. But no big brand on my resume save an early career jaunt at Microsoft/LinkedIn
Really struggled to get my foot in the door meaningfully (back) in big tech. You just don't fit that well within their frameworks. If you have my background and get the chance, may wanna jump at it.
Helpful insight. I’m curious—when you say you don’t fit well within their frameworks, was it certain skills, experience, or ways of working that didn’t align?
excellent stuff!! love that you draw upon your own experiences and really demonstrates, in a simple way, and makes me glad that we dont really live in a culture of staying at the same place for 50 years (well - some countries still do i suppose)
One important thing to consider within this framework is where you are in your career.
It was incredibly frustrating working for FAANG and a unicorn as a recent grad - I had zero seat at the table and it was maddening how little progress was made.
When I moved to smaller startups, I was able to join as a senior leader with agency. Even though we faced the fear of running out of money and layoffs and tons of pressure to grow with limited resources, it ended up being far less stressful because of that agency.
Yes, and the flipside of this is that the startup thing gets old as you age. Most people don’t want to be looking for new jobs in every 1-3 years into their 40s and 50s, which is what early-stage is like for most people (usually the company fails, or succeeds but changes so much that you’re no longer the great fit you once were.)
All I wanted when I was young was dynamic, risky, early stage - now I’d love to get into a big tanker but it’s hard to do without more specialization than you often get at startups.
Absolutely love this post, having a dilemma of pivoting from a tanker to an early stage pre-series A startup early in my career (2 years of work exp) this post gave me much more clarity on making my decision. Thanks!
This is really clearly mapped and well-articulated – 12 years of things I've learned by being in the thick of it distilled into one clean post.
Elena - love your piece and it is highly relevant to me right now. I'm a new parent so curious to know what archetype(s) would probably make sense for my current life stage with a newborn and the months/year(s) to come. I have high ambition and desire for achievement, but am a newcomer to this career crossroad.
go for tanker on lifestyle boat!
As someone who has made the wrong decision in the past, this is really helps to focus on why.
this is soooo useful and timely for me! I live in Nigeria and work remotely for a US startup, and even though I get a lot of really good feedback about my work, I’ve recently started craving a lot of mentorship and guidance from seniors who have threaded similar paths.
Lots of ‘putting out the fires’ but so little strategic growth and mentorship.
Loved this. Thanks for putting it together!
Amazing post, it's so important to think about where you are going to work as it will surely have an impact on the skills you learn and then your career
This is gold!
My observation from having worked at multiple startups (pre-A through to post D), is there is one more archetype which is somewhat similar to declining giant, except much smaller and hasn't really achieved any real success in the past. A zombie, dead but doesnt realise it yet. Not dying fast enough to run out of cash soon, but definitely declining with little hope for turnaround. All the real talent moves on, leaving folks behind who either can't leave (founders) or the low performers who are just cashing pay checks till it finally folds.
Great post and framework, thank you. What are other examples of Lifestyle Boat companies?
If the size of the circles represented # of job opportunities, my sense is that the Lifestyle Boats circle would be tiny!
this is such a great read, thank you for writing this! gave me lots of insights to reflect about myself and my career growth
I now have a clear understanding of how to make informed and confident career decisions!
I would love to see this mapped out specifically for sales reps!
Really, really good piece.
Couple thoughts building on it:
1) I think a lot of big public tech companies that aren't proverbial FAANG are kinda on the 2/3 line which actually creates a massive opportunity for mid/mid-senior people. It's not Yahoo/IBM bad but fires do need to be lit by new blood. Paradoxically, think there is good opportunity here for folks coming from startup leadership to land in this world and make more a lot more money/do something different while getting to still play some of their strengths. Some bias as this is literally what I am doing starting next week :)
2) I've done two startup adventures that were "not quite unicorns", all post-PMF, all growing fast but not at Clay rate, one which had a nice mow/mid nine-figure exit.
This is a sucker's bet on paper. You make less money than you would at other archetypes, don't get a huge equity outcome or a marquis name on your resume and still work hard. But you get the deep friendships, LOLZ and just absurd experiences that come from the unicorns and it isn't life encompassing. You get the vibes without that 3AM slack thing.
Of course-- these might go by the wayside with more power law dynamics in an AI world. But lotsa good memories can be made here with no burnout.
I should also add-- it's hard as hell to reverse break back into big tech once you're a proverbial startup guy/gal. I have a good startup resume, had a number of BD leader/VP type opportunities at good companies at Series B-C stage. But no big brand on my resume save an early career jaunt at Microsoft/LinkedIn
Really struggled to get my foot in the door meaningfully (back) in big tech. You just don't fit that well within their frameworks. If you have my background and get the chance, may wanna jump at it.
Helpful insight. I’m curious—when you say you don’t fit well within their frameworks, was it certain skills, experience, or ways of working that didn’t align?
excellent stuff!! love that you draw upon your own experiences and really demonstrates, in a simple way, and makes me glad that we dont really live in a culture of staying at the same place for 50 years (well - some countries still do i suppose)