Earlier this 12 months, we wrote about why the fixed headlines about layoffs within the tech business shouldn’t be so doom-and-gloom in case you’re a employee within the tech area. As historical past has proven, such difficult moments can current the right alternative for a just lately laid-off employee to create the subsequent nice firm.
“Tech staff turned entrepreneurs are uniquely certified to start out a enterprise given their background in programming, engineering and software program improvement, amongst different analytical expertise,” Jeff Sloan says.
Just a few of those examples just lately spoke to Wired about their expertise turning into an entrepreneur. Elsewhere, the Wall Road Journal profiled aspiring entrepreneurs who launched their corporations in the course of the COVID-19 pandemic.
- Jen Zhu is engaged on Maida.AI, a well being tech startup. Her startup is amongst seven out of 1,200 candidates that every acquired $100,000 in funding from Day One Ventures.
- Nish Junankar give up his job to start out Feasier, a platform that aggregates residence furnishing listings from completely different shops into one place.
- Former Microsoft supervisor Chelsey Roney and Fb researcher Melinda Haughey got here up with the thought for Proxi, which is a device for making interactive maps. The appliance permits native media, lodge entrance desks and others to show lists of knowledge into visible maps, create native guides and share suggestions. The startup was accepted right into a Techstars accelerator in October 2021 and raised $1.6 million final 12 months, in keeping with WSJ.
- Ankit Dhawan noticed a enterprise alternative to assist tackle a scarcity of the in-person connections that workplace environments supplied. He give up Amazon to launch Virtuelly Inc. and later raised $750,000 from buyers. The corporate now has 11 workers and provides interactive occasions designed to foster staff constructing.
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So, how can this encourage you as a budding entrepreneur? These two quotes from the aforementioned founders stick out:
“The golden handcuffs are off, and I can do no matter I need now.” – Zhu
“It’s extremely rewarding and fulfilling. It doesn’t really feel like work. I simply actually imagine within the concept.” – Junnkar
Or, as Sloan put it in his article: “Many individuals don’t begin a enterprise of their very own as a result of they’re afraid to depart their company (and, most of the time, their well-paying) job. … Whereas it’s by no means factor to see so many individuals out of labor, a large quantity of artistic and technical potential is effervescent on the floor proper now.”