I joined a business someone started, personally invested $200k, and forwent income for a year. This is after leaving a prestigious finance job after 5-6 years in the industry and quitting a senior role at a Fintech.
Company’s sales is flat, and it’s running out of money. If this doesn’t work out, I’m a guy who quit the previous start-up (not doing very well rn) after 1 year, blew money, and joined another one that’s also not doing well.
I feel like I’m not employable and that maybe my judgment is poor. Has anyone experienced or gone through this?
A lot of startups are struggling, you’re not alone. It’s almost on a daily basis now that I see someone announcing they’re winding down operations on LinkedIn.
Startups are frickin’ hard and most people within the industry know it. It’s uncommon to see profiles where every start-up was a raging success. But the learnings from these will probably help you speed up/get to PMF / pivot when needed faster as you progress.
Worked with a few myself as well, some faired better, some worse, and I have learned that many startups have “exits” which often cannot even be described as a win truly.
If you still have the energy and motivation to go through it I wouldn’t worry about the background. Past business experience is always useful for new teams, even if the businesses ended up not making it.