Big Corp or Startup — Fireside Chat with Sean Chen

A special episode with friends

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/episode/38WXgMnD1GQaJkEjfyhTcU?si=28q8M8w8Smi28__zvECixA
YouTube:

There’s a bunch of information out there on scaling up an early-stage startup, but not much on what happens before the headline. “Hurray! Someone raised $100M.” “Salesforce just acquired XYZ company.” Learning these doesn’t quite help with developing the entrepreneur or investor mindset.

This is a special edition where we have a friendly chat around work at big corp and startup, the big debate among tech workers. We’re lucky to have Sean Chen, a friend of Duanchen, to discuss his experience now building a startup at Antler London. Previously, he was working as Data Scientist at Google, and as a Product Manager at Sam’s Club.

For those of you who haven’t subscribed to our Spotify/YouTube (yes you 👀), this is a great chance for you to tune in! Listen to our whole conversation (and how we roast each other) in this episode.

In our upcoming episodes, we will feature early investors in some “Household-name” Unicorns in the AI and broader tech industry 🚀. Make sure you hit that subscribe button so you won’t miss out ⬇️ 😉.

Also ➡️ here on YouTube.

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Some main takeaways:

1. Sean is Currently Building on Next.js: He believes that by having more abstractions in code, the building process becomes easier for people who are naturally not inclined to coding. Next.js, combined with TypeScript for the frontend and Python for backend operations, forms a robust tech stack that facilitates rapid development.

2. Startup vs Big Corp: On balancing a full-time job while pursuing startup ideas, Sean finds it challenging for people at big corporations to treat the job as more than just a job, whereas startup ideas can ignite passion. He notes, "It’s hard to move fast while coordinating with others in a big corp."

3. Perspectives on Work Culture:

   1. Zhaohan's Perspective: In a large organization, everyone needs a sense of meaning and goal to work towards to perform at their peak. Specialization abstracts away the meaning and end-to-end fulfillment of product.

   2. Duanchen's Observation: Sometimes, people become “convincers” who convince themselves of the purpose of their tasks.

4. Sean is Building an Education Startup at Antler because of his experience across education systems in Australia, the UK and the US.

For more details, watch our YouTube episode.

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Disclaimer

The information provided herein is for informational and educational purposes only and does not constitute investment advice, an offer to sell, or a solicitation of an offer to buy any securities or related financial instruments. Nothing herein should be construed as a recommendation or advice to invest in any specific security, portfolio of securities, transaction, or investment strategy.