would you accept this job

Tumtitums

I have a job but i have been offered a job with £3000 more salary than my current one and in a location i would prefer to live in. The company has been around for 4 years and is has been relying on grant/government regional enterprise/investor funding rather than profits from their products which are still in development. Their type of products are recently made in the USA by a differennt company but are not available in the UK so could be profitable if lauched in UK so long as other competitirs dont get there first. The Chief executive /operating officer according to linkedin has worked in several senior positions in about 7 or 8 companies which have now been dissolved. Some of these companies according to local papers were dissolved due to cash flow problem. I was approached by a recruiter finding my CV and have no other reason to leave my current company
would you accept a position at this other company. Im worried that in about 5/10 years it will cease to exist

unforeseen

I think you are being generous giving it 5-10 years especially with the CEO/COOs record

getmore4less

if the same product already exists then the development process should be really quick, 4 years seems a long time.

When doing a copy you don't have the same learning curve for new products as the first to do it, that's why it is so easy to wipe out a the first developer if they have not protected their product properly.
You don't have the same level of development costs to recover so can sell cheaper.

if you think the product has legs then maybe setting up a business to distribute the US companies product in the UK may be the way to go.

Tumtitums

getmore4less wrote: »

if the same product already exists then the development process should be really quick, 4 years seems a long time.

When doing a copy you don't have the same learning curve for new products as the first to do it, that's why it is so easy to wipe out a the first developer if they have not protected their product properly.
You don't have the same level of development costs to recover so can sell cheaper.

if you think the product has legs then maybe setting up a business to distribute the US companies product in the UK may be the way to go.

i should just say the us product was just launched last month by an extremely large company which already has a uk subsidiary. They can distribute it in the UK once they are sure its ok in the americas

steampowered

Working for an up-and-coming company with a new product could be really interesting and could open up a lot of new opportunities.

Of course, it would come with a greater risk of the company going bust in a few years.

It depends how you view the advantages against the disadvantages. If you are reasonably confident of being able to find another job if the company went bust in a few years time, I'd say it is worth taking.

getmore4less

Tumtitums wrote: »

i should just say the us product was just launched last month by an extremely large company which already has a uk subsidiary. They can distribute it in the UK once they are sure its ok in the americas

The chances are that will wipe out the UK one.

The guy running the show has all the hallmarks of someone that is good at raising funds and making a decent living while never achieving anything.
There may be a bit of money in it for a while and a chance to get experience of startup if you have not done that before.

In my day they said you get 3 chances to make it good(shares) with start ups, if the 3rd one fails get a proper job/career before you get too old.


if you decide not to take the job can you share what the US product is?

Malthusian

Tumtitums wrote: »

would you accept a position at this other company. Im worried that in about 5/10 years it will cease to exist

This is the giveaway. If you're worried about working for an employer who may not be there in 5-10 years then you should absolutely not work for this one. It's more likely that it'll be bust in 5-10 months given the director's track record.

If you hadn't said that, I would have said it was an impossible question to answer because it depends on your age, whether you've got dependents to take care of, how quickly you can find another job if it goes bust, your current earnings (how significant is £3,000 a year?) etc.

Personally I would be asking for shares in the business if I was going to consider working for a startup.

trailingspouse

I think you've answered your own question - if you thought it was a good idea and nothing could possibly go wrong, you wouldn't be asking the question.

ScorpiondeRooftrouser

I have never stayed at any company for more than 5 years, and only one for anything like that long, so it wouldn't concern me at all. Having said that, if the relocation would leave you dependent on this company for work, I can see why that would give you pause. However if you want to live in this other place and there would be other options when/if the company went bust, why worry?

Tumtitums

im thinking its not for me. I' d prefer a company which has a little bit more history although i know entrepreurs try and fail many times and strike it rich. Its just there is no need for me to accept this risk level

ScorpiondeRooftrouser

Again, why is the company failing in 5 years a risk for you? Anything can happen in five years. The company could be massively successful and get bought out and moved.

I find it frankly bizarre to worry about the long term future of this particular company unless there is some reason you would struggle to get another job if you move to that area. Would you? Do you honestly expect to stay in the job you are in, or the next job you get, for longer than ten years? That's an unconscionable time to stay in a job, for me and for many other people.

I took my current job knowing there was significant risk to the company persisting beyond 2 years. I wasn't bothered at all; had anything happened I would move on, and it was fine in the mean time. Worrying that it might fail in five years...well, who cares? You might well be gone by then anyway.