Founders

I've experienced working at a large traditional company, early stage startup, founding a fund, and founding a startup. Some random thoughts

- AIG: work hard and learn a lot but difficult to have autonomy with layers of management, most there to collect paycheck, how you stand out depends on manager

- Coinbase (30-150 employees): work hard but first time work didn't feel like work since cared deeply, tons of autonomy, first time working with many mission driven colleagues, can stand out taking initiative, did not have a sense of how hard being a founder was for Brian + Fred

- Scalar (founded fund): work harder (no days off in week), decisions fall on founders so huge sense of ownership, lows are really low, first sense of how hard things can really get

- Bountycaster (founded company): work harder than founding fund (default is work and then carve out personal time), cycles of highs and lows much more rapid than fund, feel most fulfilled due to ownership, mission, and connecting with users

Founders, this is truly motivating for all of us. Your impressive journey and diverse experiences, from corporate roles to startups, offer valuable insights into leadership, autonomy, and the challenges of founding companies.