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Ask HN: Leaving VC, what now?

1 points| tgalvin | 13 years ago | reply

Hello all!

I've spent the last 4 years at a small east coast VC shop with a marketing role at a loyalty start up mixed in. It was expected that I go to b-school in September, but I nixed that idea. Right now I crave a return to the start up life. I've played around with ideas of my own, but I feel the need to help someone bring their own dream to life first.

Rather than wait it out until September, I think I'm just going to walk away now. My knowledge base is primarily around fintech, loyalty, and affinity marketing, and I'm probably best suited for marketing/sales/BD at start up.

My question is...would it be crazy to cold email founders of start ups I think are cool and offer to work for free? How would you react? We all need to make a living, but right now I'm more concerned about waking up each day and helping a start up that I'm passionate about. I think this would make a lot of sense to see if I "gel" with the early team, but I also don't want to send the message that "hey, this guy must suck if he's willing to work for free in his mid-20s."

Thoughts? Advice? Thumbs up? Thumbs down?

5 comments

[+] juan_juarez|13 years ago|reply

Working for free is almost always a bad idea. If you don't value your time & skills, nobody else is going to.

[+] tgalvin|13 years ago|reply

I don't disagree. Obviously a start up that's raised an A round will be a very different situation than a couple of founders who are trying to put together a seed. I guess I'm trying to figure out a way to break into a start up I'm passionate about without a non-technical background. Maybe an internship is the best way to approach it? Though I am in my mid-20s...sounds a bit weird.