Startup Founder planning to comeback to corporate
Hi guys. I’m a software engineer with 14yrs of experience. I have solo-founded a startup 4 years ago and grown it to 1Cr ARR and 1lakh users. Built a small team. But it’s been very difficult to scale beyond this. I love the work I do. But I’m not making what I used to take home when I was in job(take home was 45LPA in 2021). Money is very important for me since I’m the sole bread winner in the entire family.
What are your suggestions based on the current market dynamics. The last four years I’m more in to management rather than coding.I like both of them, though I lean a bit more in to engineering. Please let me know your suggestions in comments. Thank you for your time 🙏
First, do not share your founder experience while applying for jobs. It will work against you, people don't trust founders with jobs in India.
Second, i would suggest looking into creating 2-3 more such businesses and exploring pivot with current one. That way you can reach similar income levels within 2-3 years time, assuming it works out well.
Third, you can run the startup alongside a job as well, but you'll have to manage your time better. That's an ideal scenario to be in. Just don't disclose it publicly or to your employers.
Thanks for your suggestions. Really appreciate that.
Though AI is kind of killing our growth, We can also use it for our own growth. I have done KT to my wife and she is handling day to day operations to some extent, though not full time. While I can explore other ideas, it’s not easy to hit PMF and 0->1. I’m spending my most valuable years and I’m kind of feeling that I should be in a job and use AI to automate and be more productive with my ideas. Still not very clear about path but analysing all my option and finding my best fit.
Yup, it is possible to seed AI models with more info about your business as well so it comes up in various queries.
I would have to know more about your startup to suggest more specific solutions though.
Also have a few ideas I'm working on, happy to share and discuss if you're interested. I'm a full time entrepreneur working on multiple projects.
Look for scale opportunities, there is always a way if u look deeper. Grow what you have started.
Business is heavy SEO dependant. AI is killing it day by day. Clicks are dropping. It’s not easy to grow. We can do a complete pivot with the existing user base, but again it’s like starting from scratch almost. Though I love I what I do it’s been a really rough journey. I’m not sure if I’m ready again. With small kids(one kid is in spectrum)and elderly parents at home who are dependant on me, it feels a bit scary in terms of finance. That’s the reason I’m thinking all of this. Whats the best path.
Sell the product on micro acquisition websites like micro acquire, etc
You will easily get 4-5x multiple so you can make 4-5cr depending on how good your product is and how well the next guy can scale
Invest that money in safe bets like FD and earn 2-3 lakh pure profit from interest and take a break. Then start looking for next thing to do
Great suggestions. But I guess, on those micro acquisition sites, the valuation multiple is on profits and not on revenue. Though I’m not 100% sure. I’m in talks with big MNCs who are interested but we can never be sure until the amount hits the bank.
Hi , I was a founder of a service based company for 6 years 2013-2019. At the time of Covid I had to shutdown operation as all my employees were not in condition to work from their native place..
I later joined a company and then eventually moved to HCL ...after working for 4 years at HCL,I am again planing to go back to business, Currently I am building a product in generative AI
So when you are an entrepreneur once in your life , you might go to do job , but eventually your mind will keep revolving around what you use to do as enterpreneur
Yeah 💯. Once entrepreneur, always an entrepreneur. I really don’t get that kind of kick in normal job.
But you know, it’s not always about me, it’s for people dependent on me as well. I also get a great level of satisfaction providing the best for people dependant on me. My family.
Also, I love software engineering in general, so I don’t mind building great product for a company I work for, if they pay me well 😉.
Many congratulations to you💐 for being an entrepreneur and then coming back to job and then working on your new product. All the very best 👍
Easy way :
- Sell it for an appropriate amount to suitable buyers with at least more than 50-60%profit
- Invest 70-80% amount use rest for daily life & emergency fund
- Rejoin the work force as experience of being a Team lead or anything else that u can relate to ( as u build a team)
Ambition:
- As one the users suggested try building such projects/startups more Or
- Act as the consultant for growing startups while continuing ur work in ur startup
There are lots of options which align with you in terms of both money & work is your best choice
All the best 👍
Hi Bro
As you already moved into your own business, as it is in no loss at the moment
Please work hard in that and improve the same.
Don't come back. As many IT jobs are going now, so no point in coming here.
My suggestion for your is - In parallel, you start one more business which is not related to IT, and try to maintain both of them. So that you can switch the amounts or business when required.
What ever you save a little, try to invest them in Real Estate or similar ones.(This will help you at the last stages)
ALL THE BEST 🤠
I am looking for a technical co-founder. I am on the idea stage. I have no knowledge of coding. If you can build an e-commerce marketplace for images and videos then contact me. It's better if you can understand Hindi because my English is not good. Contact here or on insta- Startup.Advisor.India And don't force me to tell the full idea in detail because I have only idea and nothing. Agar aap platform build kar sako toh believe me aapko uske baad kabhi life mai job nahi karni padegi.
Is PMF validated? Incase it’s not done, please do it first.
I was also a founder of a startup. Invest 1.5 years into that and nothing worked then found the Job.
Your experience of owning a product will be a BIG PLUS as it had worked in my favour.
Mentioning that you founded a startup, will impress HRs and HMs from good product based company because they want to work with the people who Owns the product.
Service based companies will reject you just because you are a founder because they want Slaves Not owner. Dont let them demean you. Be proud of yourself.
Regarding coding, you dont need to code. AI will do that just learn how to get it done by AI. Learn DSA and System Design for interview purpose only.
DM me for Job referrals.
