Ask HN: Advice for getting connected with startups looking for experience?

by wNjdbfm on 7/13/2019, 8:32:47 PM with 4 comments
tl;dr: -Any advice for someone looking to switch from their own lifestyle business to working on someone else's project? -Any advice for someone on the wrong side of 40 with C level experience trying to find startups or fun projects that might value my experience?

I've had a successful lifestyle business for the last 15 years where I've held the role of CTO or COO. Recently for a variety of reasons I've been thinking about selling to my partner and leaving to try something new. But I don't feel like I fit well into many job descriptions. I haven't written a line of production code in ten years, but I've put together and managed teams that have made successful FinTech products with tens of millions of dollars in transactions going through them. I think that the most valuable skill I possess is that I can put together teams where people like to work for me and we get things done. I don't need to be a C level executive, but I feel like I have a lot of experience that could help a lot of startups be successful, but I don't really know how to market myself. My network is very small and specific to the industry where I've been for the last 15 years. My CV is fairly bland, because the last 15 years has been spent on my own businesses, which did very well, but you've never heard of them.

Does HN have any advice for getting myself out there in a way that I might find someone I can help?

  • by tixocloud on 7/16/2019, 10:11:19 AM

    Hi, I'd actually love to get in touch to learn more about your situation. I'm building an enterprise tech startup and could use someone with decent experience while I focus on the commercial aspects of things.

  • by soneca on 7/13/2019, 9:48:51 PM

    I see a lot of "Engineering Manager" positions out there. Try applying to a few of them and see if there is a fit. If not, talk to some recruiters and try to find why.

    The best recruiters to talk are the ones employed by big companies themselves (not from recruiting agencies) and that explicitly say they are hiring on their LinkedIn profiles. Often they have a premium account and leave their private messages open.

  • by afarrell on 7/13/2019, 9:01:06 PM

    One option is to offer to be a mentor for a startup accelerator like MassChallenge.

  • by gshdg on 7/13/2019, 9:23:18 PM

    Look for director and VP level roles at small to mid sized startups?