I keep getting offers to work on projects.
This would be great, but most of these project offers are in exchange Equity: “We have a great idea, help us implement it and we’ll give you a piece of the profits down the track”.
Unfortunately, work for equity in practice turns out to mean work for nothing.
Maybe it’s just me, but I’ve had equity in a number of companies, mostly when I was young and inexperienced and Dot Com Exuberance was the style of the time. Unfortunately for me, none of this equity ever turned into anything useful. You know, like actual cold hard cash. In fact, in at least one case the lure of equity kept me working long past the use-by date of the company.
You need to think very carefully before taking on projects for equity - your effort may never be rewarded.
The harsh reality of the startup world is that most companies will fail.
Startups that don’t fail will probably not be as big as they promised.
It’s hard to predict the next Google.
If you’re software developer, it’s very easy to think that it’s all about having a great product - but if you build it they may not come. It’s important to remembre that it’s not necessarily all about a great product, you also need great marketing, and most importantly of all, incredible luck.
So I may have just turned the next Google down, but I ‘m betting that I haven’t. And I have to focus on my own startup efforts. After all, maybe I’m building the next Google …