One of the “weak” points a startup has is the brand perception.
Some-role at FANG sounds more impressive than same-role at a no-name startup.
Even the startups themselves like to brag that they were started by alumni of brand name employers, rather than alumni of other startups.
So, in what concrete way can you shift this?
There is no easy solution, but you can try and follow the same route you did for startups.
No-name (YC 18) is a better brand then just-no-name.
Allow/encourage employees and encourage/require your startups to brand people as “YC Startup Engineer” rather than “no-name Engineer”.
It may sound a little strange at first but there is a probability bigger than zero that if you promote this correctly, as you did for startups, you may end up at top of the prestige pile.
+1 to not dismissing prestige, although I'm not sure I agree with this plan. Prestige is easy for some people to dismiss, but it can be a very big deal to others, especially (in my experience) in Asian cultures. My girlfriend's family still doesn't believe that I quit Google to work at a startup--they assume I got fired--because who would willingly give up that prestige?
I'm not sure if that's an Asian thing, I actually only learnt the importance of prestige after coming to bay area. When you mix with people with prestige and without, sharing job hunting and interviewing experiences quickly lead you to realize the importance of brand name recognition of your school and past employers.
I rose in a sales role to be a non-Founder CEO of a material science startup. We were successful - but after 9 years I was burned out and came to a friendly resignation with my board. The name recognition component is real. I got great offers within the industries we sold to - but outside of that there was a lot of explanation about the business, etc.
Brand perception is a real issue - and it doesn't get covered up by your title or role.
Some-role at FANG sounds more impressive than same-role at a no-name startup.
Even the startups themselves like to brag that they were started by alumni of brand name employers, rather than alumni of other startups.
So, in what concrete way can you shift this?
There is no easy solution, but you can try and follow the same route you did for startups.
No-name (YC 18) is a better brand then just-no-name.
Allow/encourage employees and encourage/require your startups to brand people as “YC Startup Engineer” rather than “no-name Engineer”.
It may sound a little strange at first but there is a probability bigger than zero that if you promote this correctly, as you did for startups, you may end up at top of the prestige pile.
Just 2 cents from a guy with none ;)