The world is not binary

“Corporate people cannot work in startups and startup people cannot work in corporate.”

One of our podcast guest said this and it still haunts me to this day that I didn’t push back when we were recording.

There are plenty of people in big companies who don’t belong in corporations but are too scared to jump ship and do something on their own.

Some eventually do.

There are people who try their own thing, burn out (or get acquired) and eventually work in a corporation where they can finally get some stability.

The world is not a binary place.

I’d rephrase the original statement as “people who are comfortable in big companies probably won’t enjoy the chaos and uncertainty of a startup, while founders who crave independence are not likely to succeed in submitting to processes and politics of a corporation.”

I’m always tentative when labeling people because no one is static.

We all change. Sometimes willingly, sometimes when forced by circumstances.

Labeling someone as incapable of doing something based on their place of work is an -ism I haven’t invented a label for yet.