"I left a hedge fund to do real work at a Gen AI startup"
Earlier this year, I left a major hedge fund to join a top generative AI startup. It's been a breath of fresh air.
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I am no longer working perfomatively. People work long hours here because we have real work to do; in larger organizations, people just pretend and play politics. Hedge funds specifically want to minimize risks, so there's plenty of red tape everywhere...
A lot of people here work evenings and weekends, but it's because the work is very interesting. People working the longest hours also tend to have the most equity compensation. My startup is one of the few that's remote first; some people love coming to the office, but those that don't like it don't have to.
The culture is very bottom-up rather than top-down. As we gain a lot of traction, there are lots of customers who need to be taken care of, and it's rewarding to do so. I'm not the only person to join from finance, but we have plenty of colleagues from Big Tech and some former founders too.
Getting into my new company was actually easier than getting into a hedge fund. Interviews were mostly focused on culture-fit, so you need to make sure you've got a startup mindset. That being said, it was still harder than an interview for FAANG.
Konrad Walz is a pseudonym
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