This really resonated with me, I was one of those cocky, over-achieving kids who thought I could start a company fresh out of college.
Instead, I've worked in Product for 26 months and learnt some really good skills: how to write real requirements, how to manage expectations (up and down), how to negotiate, how to measure and to focus on moving the needle, how to build a GTM plan and execute against it, how to deal with fireman issues, how to develop with a SOA, the list goes on.
And picked up a bunch of payments industry expertise along the way.
I'm still determined to start my own business, but definitely a hell-of-a-lot more confident in my chances of success.
You do learn lots of good things at companies, but you can also learn bad habits -- you can acquire a predilection for long meetings, acquire a taste for political point-scoring over (more difficult, less fun) compromise, and a default position of creating process over improving communication. Those things are survival skills at a big company, but very bad for small ones. The trick is to identify which of the skills you're picking up are good or bad and using them appropriately when you strike out on your own.
Excellent point - I find the long meetings aren't such a difficult thing to avoid - but certainly politics and unnecessary process have no place in a startup.
The other big lesson I learnt, the hidden cost of complexity, and importance of keeping things simple (I don't think you can get this until you meet the real world): https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6331082 (just submitted to HN, realised it hadn't been shared yet)
Are those really survival skills at a big company? I make a point about skipping meetings that aren't specifically scheduled with me (many other top engineers at my employer do), I get basically nowhere without compromise, and I usually prefer to disseminate information rather than create process.
Instead, I've worked in Product for 26 months and learnt some really good skills: how to write real requirements, how to manage expectations (up and down), how to negotiate, how to measure and to focus on moving the needle, how to build a GTM plan and execute against it, how to deal with fireman issues, how to develop with a SOA, the list goes on.
And picked up a bunch of payments industry expertise along the way.
I'm still determined to start my own business, but definitely a hell-of-a-lot more confident in my chances of success.