Debating between founding a startup or pursuing VP roles at major tech firms. Our community’s case studies highlight both paths, but I want the unspoken realities. For those who analyzed these transitions: what hidden challenges emerged in the case studies that aren’t obvious? Founders – what did corporate veterans underestimate about scaling? Corporate climbers – what startup skills backfired in big tech?
every ‘successful’ case study buries the corpse count. know a founder who glorified their exit – didn’t mention burning 3 dev teams to get there. corporate case studies? 90% survivorship bias. pro tip: ask for contacts of failed transitions – that’s where real lessons live
the case study bout the pm who went to google said ‘build cross-functional allies’ but HOW??? like do u set up more meetings or??
The most insightful case study contrasted two members: one who transitioned to a Series B startup focused on ruthless prioritization, another to Microsoft emphasizing consensus-building. Key takeaway: startup success required unlearning corporate resource assumptions, while corporate advancement demanded deprioritizing founder-level urgency – neither path suits all temperaments.
A case study subject mentioned ‘investor pressure’ as a startup challenge – didn’t capture the reality of 4AM pitch deck edits while handling HR crises. My mentor from that startup later admitted they fired the founding engineer during that period – case studies sanitize the chaos
Analysis of 17 startup transition cases shows 76% faced unforeseen regulatory hurdles post-Series A, delaying product launches by 11 months avg. Contrastingly, 89% of corporate climbers cited internal compliance processes as 2-3x slower than anticipated despite prior enterprise experience.