"Hi Zoe, I’m in the middle of a hiring process at a fast-rising startup for an engineering role. The product is strong, the team is impressive and the interviews have gone well. But I’m hesitant — not because I’m waiting on another offer. It’s because I’m seriously considering building my own thing. How should I be thinking about this decision?"
This is a very common place to be right now, especially for ambitious, high-agency candidates. We’re seeing more and more product-led engineers launch their own companies instead of joining one.
For the very best people, the hiring market is favourable again. Dozens of companies and recruiters are back in your inbox, and this isn’t like the last recruiting boom — there are many genuinely interesting roles at rising companies with meaningful upside. Yet even with strong options on the table, your decision to take a role can feel harder than expected in this current climate.
That’s because the real tension here isn’t between Company A and Company B. It’s between joining a company and choosing an entirely different path. You’re not just choosing a job, you’re choosing a future.
From a job market to a futures market
We’re living in times where human agency is at an all-time high. AI has dramatically increased individual leverage. Building in public is normalised. Capital is easier to access. Side projects can turn into companies quickly. As a result, top candidates are evaluating multiple paths in parallel: joining a company, founding something themselves, advising or consulting across a portfolio, experimenting with investing, or pursuing a more personal intersection of interests.
Founding, in particular, has shifted from a distant someday ambition to a credible near-term alternative. This is why hesitation shows up even when an offer is objectively good. You’re not comparing one role to another. You’re comparing Future A versus Future B.
Each path implies a different bundle of outcomes: skills you’ll build, identity you’ll inhabit, people you’ll meet, risks you’ll take and upside you’ll retain. Consciously or not, you’re optimising for optionality and long-term leverage. The real question underneath is usually: Is this the best use of my time and talent right now?
How to evaluate an offer when you have other credible options
1/ Acknowledge your ambition and treat it as a strength
The desire to start a company is increasingly seen as a positive signal by companies looking to hire, not a red flag. ‘Founders-in-waiting’ are one of the most in-demand personas companies want to attract right now, regardless of function. That ambition acts as a proxy for ownership mindset, drive and relentless problem-solving. The key is to frame it not as an imminent exit plan, but as a long-term arc — and to be explicit about your intention to fully commit to the chapter you choose. Serious founders know that half-in never works. If a role only makes sense if you downplay that instinct, pay attention. The right environment will see your ambition as an asset, not a liability. Be upfront about your founding aspirations.
2/ Optimise for learning velocity, ownership, and slope
Exceptional careers are built on steep learning curves, not comfortable plateaus. Ask yourself: will this role stretch me faster than going solo would right now? Will I own meaningful problems with real consequences? Is the remit expansive, or tightly boxed? The most compelling roles feel like force multipliers, accelerating your trajectory rather than delaying it. If the role feels contained and incremental rather than compounding, think carefully about whether it’s the most levered path to take right now.
3/ Interrogate the equity story, not just the package
Equity isn’t just compensation, it’s exposure to a particular future. Especially at earlier stages, you are implicitly choosing between betting on yourself and betting on someone else’s vision. You should understand clearly how value is created, what winning looks like and why the company you’re thinking of joining is a rare bet. Ask yourself — and the founders — serious, future-looking questions: What would have to be true for this equity to be meaningfully valuable? What specific milestones unlock disproportionate upside? How does dilution play out over time? If this works, how big does it become — and what role do I play in that outcome? If the story feels vague, defensive or unconvincing, that’s information.
4/ Look for ambition density
High-agency people compound faster around other high-agency people. Pay attention to who else is on the team and where they’re heading. Do people here grow into bigger roles, found companies, back each other and stay connected over time? The best companies don’t require you to park ambition at the door. They become meeting grounds for future founders, investors and collaborators.
A note on self-discipline
Having more options doesn’t excuse low commitment. If you decide to join, do it with conviction.
But equally important: don’t succumb to artificial pressure to found now just because the market narrative says it’s hot. Examine your underlying motivations before rejecting your incoming offer. The experience, pattern recognition and network you gain before founding often prove invaluable later. Many of the strongest founders are those who chose their pre-founder chapters deliberately. You don’t need to prove ambition by rushing into independence. You prove it by exercising good judgement at inflection points.
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Career decisions feel harder right now, not because there are fewer good roles, but because the most talented people have more credible futures available to them.
If you’re weighing joining a company against starting something yourself, you’re asking the right question. Just focus on choosing which future you believe will compound fastest from here.
