Get Back On The Success Train

In Silicon Valley, you’re respected for taking a risk even when you fail — but that doesn’t mean there’s a desire for it. The Valley’s famous tolerance for failure doesn’t give you carte blanche to take ill-thought-out risks with your career.

I teach two courses that focus on technology entrepreneurship at Stanford Graduate School of Business, so I’m often asked for advice on where and how to start a career. I give those that seek me out a list of great tech companies to start a career. If they tell me they want to take startup jobs right away, I advise them to wait:

“Be patient. You’re not ready for a startup. Join a mid-sized company with momentum, and let its success create a halo effect over your early career. You can then have your choice among the best startups.”

In every cohort there are people who come back to me a few years later, after heading straight to a startup that failed. They wonder how they can dig themselves out of their career hole.

I tell them to swallow their pride and give them the same advice I gave them a few years earlier: Join a mid-sized company (revenue of $20 million to $300 million) with momentum, no matter what the title — even if the job is a couple of levels below the jobs their friends have. They need to get back on the success train. To do so, the company you work for matters more than the job or title.

I understand the allure of working for a startup. But you’re not likely to get an offer from a great start-up unless you’ve already had some success under your belt. A string of failures only makes the challenge more difficult. At a certain point, a career hole is too deep for you to dig out.