Leave Wall Street. Join a Startup.
Josh Kopelman of First Round Capital put up a great quick website promoting the idea that technical talent (meaing those who know computer stuff) may want to consider a startup given the mess the banks and financial services are in. The site’s master of the obvious title is Leave Wall Street - Join a Startup. I’ve posted his points below which make a lot of sense and which would help ‘diversify’ NYC’s economy a bit although this would take many many years. I remember the days of Silicon Alley (upto year 2000) as I worked at Kozmo.com. Unfortunately, no significant businesses emerged from that as far as I can gather. But here’s to hoping a Google can emerge out of NYC.
Financial services will always be huge in NYC, but introducing some other types of economy into the mix would only be healthy. Remember, diversification is good. The politicos seem to agree as well having recently started NYC Seed - an angel investment fund giving $200k to worthy business plans.
For those who aren’t familiar with Kopelman, he is best known for starting Half.com and selling it to eBay for $350 million.
Those who visit the site will also see Kopelman has posted positions at some of First Round Capital’s portfolio companies as well. So besides making some good arguments, Kopelman has also found a good way to promote his companies and his interests in them. This is very smart.
Here’s to the new NYC startup scene. Kopelman’s comments are below:
For years, one of the biggest challenges facing New York city based startup companies has been the competition for technical talent. It was very difficult for a venture-backed startup to compete with the compensation packages offered by the big investment banks. Stock options had a hard-time overcoming oversized cash bonuses.
While no one is happy with the turmoil we’re seeing facing the financial services sector, and no one is happy to see mass layoffs, this does represent an opportunity for startup companies to attract seasoned, technical talent. With Bear Stearns laying off over 7,000 employees, Lehman Brothers rumored to layoff over 20,000 employees, and Merrill Lynch expected to layoff thousands after their sale to Bank of America, we’re on track to see over 150,000 people lose their jobs this year.
If you are one of those 150,000 employees, you might want to consider joining a startup. These days, startups are more stable than Wall Street (seriously). And while a startup probably won’t offer the creature comforts of a job in the financial services industry, startups offer different benefits. You get to participate in the creation of something new. Your work makes a direct (and clear) impact on the success or failure of the company. No more politics, endless meetings, or multi-layered organization structures. Plus, you’ll likely get stock options to share the upside.
If interested in taking the plunge to the world of startups but you’re not in NYC, you can also search for startup opportunities in your country or city, check out ChubbyBrain’s advanced search feature here where you can specify your criteria.
