I couldn’t escape from...feeling that I could be doing all this work for my own product rather than someone else’s.
If you have a founder's mentality, you're not going to work well for someone else. Invoking Socrates: "Know Thyself!" That is, be honest, and if you're miserable for this reason, strike out on your own.
I had 3 colleagues who exited their startup with a buyout from my corporation. Along with the acquisition, they had to stay on for ~2 years. They got fairly high-level jobs, directors, VPs of engineering for cloud, etc., but one could see they hated it.
The second that countdown timer expired, they were out starting new stuff.
Mo, I appreciate your candor.
I think you hit the nail on the head right here:
If you have a founder's mentality, you're not going to work well for someone else. Invoking Socrates: "Know Thyself!" That is, be honest, and if you're miserable for this reason, strike out on your own.
I had 3 colleagues who exited their startup with a buyout from my corporation. Along with the acquisition, they had to stay on for ~2 years. They got fairly high-level jobs, directors, VPs of engineering for cloud, etc., but one could see they hated it.
The second that countdown timer expired, they were out starting new stuff.
Good advice, thanks Harold!