Ask HN: Transition back to job market in 40s

14 points by chugchug 285 days ago | 9 comments

Hey,

I started a startup late 2022. In the process we raised $400k and have built an awesome product. However, we could not generate much revenue as we did not do good marketing. Between salaries and business expenses, we have about 9 months of runway left. I want to give one final push before we shut down.

I think I will have to go to job market again. I don't have life changing savings yet so working will be essential.

How do I transition back to job market? My skillset is mostly technical and I also have management experience. But, reading stories about layoffs and people struggling for months gives me dread. I am not sure how it will be but I feel lost after 18 years of experience.

What am I supposed to do? I can go to managarial route but there are not much positions open at least today. I can go into IC role but coding every day is not something I enjoy. All prior roles I held were related to engineering.

What are your thoughts on navigating this transition?

codegeek 284 days ago |

If you have an awesome product and 9 months of runway left and you admit that you could better marketing, why don't you focus 100% on the business for now and try to grow the revenue by doing better marketing ? Also try and stretch that runway for more like 12-18 months if possible. Go all in. What is stopping you ?

The thing is that if you are planning for Plan B and get a job, it sounds like you have already given up and will just burn Investor money for next 9 months while planning to get back in the job market.

chugchug 284 days ago | |

I am going all in. There hasn't been a day where I haven't worked for 12-14 hours. But, this is a complex product and despite everything we are doing we may not make it. In SaaS, it's usually winner takes all and others scramble for pennies.

We are also trying fundraising to extend runway. Fundraising has changed so much now that people expect 1M in 6 months(?). I understand revenue expectation and not just building. But, applying viral product expectation to every product is not correct. But, it's their money and their expectation.

I have not given up yet. Which is why I mentioned one final push. And we are not burning investor money. They know and they are fully onboard to continue. We might wind up early and return the money. Nowhere I said we want to burn the money.

But, as a family man in 40s, I have to plan for the future. I can't just wait and see if things don't go write and then hop onto job market. Winding down is also a big work from employees, tax, compliance standpoint.

codegeek 280 days ago | | |

Fair enough then. All the best.

godot 284 days ago |

I don't have "the right answer" for you but I would just chime in that in the current job market, your best bet is your existing/previous network. Reach out to folks you previously worked with in past companies, especially those in tech leadership positions. With more and more AI applicants trust is weighed more than ever and existing relationships is a major leverage point now.

I don't know if this "should" be how it is but this is the reality based on what I observe now. Hopefully you have some relationships you can reach out to.

quantdev1 284 days ago |

Why not take a pragmatic approach?

Your options are becoming an FTE or doing some sort of contracting/consulting.

After your experience - and given your message - it sounds like you're leaning towards employment.

So:

1. Focus on the managerial route for a period of X months. Forget about positioning yourself for an IC role, since it's not your preference.*

2. Treat this as a GTM project. You are the product.

I'm willing to bet that - based on your experience - you'd have a hell of a narrative that differentiates you.

*If an IC role is offered to you while you're looking for a managerial role - seriously consider taking it - to hedge.

tracker1 284 days ago |

My only advice is when you get there, take what you can get for now and passively look until you can find a better fit. There's still a fair amount of contract work, a lot of it isn't the same level of pay from even a year or two ago though.

I spent the better part of the past couple years not working, and finally had to break down and take what I could get instead of holding out... I wish I'd done it months sooner, before hitting that critical point.

jahlove 279 days ago | |

Where are good places to find contract work?

giantg2 284 days ago |

I would commit at least 30 minutes out of each of you 12-14 hour days to working on your resume, looking at job boards, networking, etc. If your SaaS is shutting down, maybe look at some of your customers to see if they have a need for your skillset at their org.

scarface_74 284 days ago |

Context I’m 51:

You say your backend is “technical”. But are you buzzword compliant with the latest tech? How are your interview coding skills? How are your system design skills? Do you know the industry standard new and shiny “best practices” and buzzwords? How’s your network? Those are the first questions you have to ask yourself.

It’s a shit show out here if you don’t have a specialized skill set (no full stack developer, web developer, mobile, etc is not “specialized”)

Every open req literally gets hundreds if not thousands of applications and it’s almost impossible to stand out in the crowd if you are blindly submitting jobs to job boards.

You may have better luck working as a solution architect, technical post sales, etc. Almost every large B2B company has their own such positions and there are third party consulting companies that hire people full time.

There are also positions like Account Managers, Engagement Managers (project managers) etc.