Ask HN: Find new job while winding down startup.

[throwaway1982]

So my startup is winding down over the next month or two and I'm still officially associated with it. But, I have to start looking for full-time work now because of my financial situation.

Has anyone been in a similar spot? Are employers a little hesitant seeing that you're still an officer in another company? What if my company was (well, is) technically a competitor?

I can't afford to wait another month or two to start applying, and I can't ethically (maybe legally) completely bail on my cofounders right now either...kind of a tight spot.

[vitovito]

Contractually, any new employer in the same market is going to want to make sure that you're allowed to work for them, that you won't be in breach of any non-competes, non-disclosure, or confidentiality agreements both with your startup and its customers.

Companies large enough to have an HR department, or small enough that hiring is a low priority, won't be able to turn on a dime and make you an offer right away. It can take weeks to get your resume reviewed internally, weeks to schedule interviews, and weeks to make an offer. You need to start applying right away because you're potentially going to be unemployed for three to six months. Better two of those months be while you still have a paycheck.

In interviews, coming from a startup is going to be a red flag for larger companies. If I were interviewing you, I'd grill you pretty hard about whether you really wanted to be an employee, or whether you were just licking your wounds until your next startup was ready to go, and then you'd bail on us. If I had any sense you were a flight risk, or you might be dissatisfied working on a team instead of in a multiple-hats/leadership position, it doesn't matter if you were perfect for the job, you'd get a "no," because companies want people who will stick around.

All of that said, now's a great time to be looking: everyone's back from vacation, and they all have new budgets to start spending (or are getting things lined up to), because fiscal years often start Jan.1 or Apr.1.

[throwaway1982]

"In interviews, coming from a startup is going to be a red flag for larger companies."

I'm a little worried about that, yes...in my case, my startup has permanently burned away any desire to attempt one again...nothing more I want to do now than focus on code and let other people make the big decisions...I'm hoping that comes through...maybe not that fatalistically :P

Thanks for your reply.

[Ryel]

Finding a full-time job would probably raise flags to any co-founders, partners, employees, investors, etc...

If I were you I would start applying asap and try to focus on landing contract work(3-6 months) with some "fun" startups. All of your associates should understand that you are, or will be, strapped for cash and wont be demoralized too badly as long as they see your new transition as temporary.

Also it could be a great motivational booster for you to get back to your own project.

Good luck!

[throwaway1982]

Oh, all the co-founders are in the same boat...everyone knows it's sinking :-)

I've heard contract work takes longer to land than full-time, so I'm leaning towards the latter...any advice on quickly finding contract work?

[miksago]

If your startup is actually shutting down, then this period you're in is as good as a notice period. I suspect you might find chatting with the Pay With Tab guys interesting, they were in a similar boat and also wrote that article about startup failure: https://medium.com/on-startups/b0722086c0f7