Let me attempt to take it a step further: Most engineering work can be classified as either ‘getting after it’ or ‘holding it down’
In startups you have to balance both
After contributing $25k a year to my 401(k), spending $350 a month on Equinox, $2,000 a month on Waymos, and a $30 sandwich and smoothie at Loveski five days a week, I can hardly afford my ski cabin split in Tahoe. Can someone help?
FDE joins a long list of lofty sounding startup titles:
- Early eng too junior to be CTO -> Founding Engineer
- MBA who thinks sales is beneath them but can't sell -> Business Development
- Ex banker who thinks FP&A is beneath them but doesn't know accounting -> Strategic Finance
- Ex consultant who thinks operations is beneath them but can't execute -> Biz Ops
- Ex VC who thinks every operating role is beneath them but has no tangible skills -> "special projects"
@tbpn FDEs work when:
-You have the ability to truly ‘excite’ the customer, and create value far beyond original scope
-You have a repeatable platform product to enable rapid feedback, and, and share those learnings across users.
Writing more here! https://t.co/CU4vsseAdj