First, congratulations on being proactive in pursuit of scaling your career trajectory. I'm often amazed that an ecosystem that reveres best-practice and first principals has fostered belief that coaching is valuable only to those who inhabit c-suites or....wait for it....the latest Stanford startup backed by the illuminati of SV.
Securing a coach is both possible and critically important to career trajectory. Further, the FANG SVP that has climbed ladder without benefit of guidance and network such associations yield is rare indeed.
If desired I can make introduction to a couple of people that are well respected, lmk.
I chose to read the prior comments posted, wish I had not done so.
The answer to your question has zero to do with ethics, morals, etc.
We live quite literally within a surveillance state that becomes more sophisticated and invasive by the day. FANG profit models, undisclosed deals between govt/SV and the omnipresence of video cameras have effectually made the 4th Amendment mute.
You have 3 choices and each of them is absolutely fine and at your discretion:
1. Treat your work as a "bug bounty" and contact each manufacturer for compensation.
2. Choose educate ecosystem via github post.
3. Keep quiet and use for exact purpose you intended.
Most important thing you've said is that "....chance that company will be purchased, but those talks have been going on for several months...."
**Never, ever, ever become more committed to a startup than the founders are.
A startup warrants devotion and continued work only when leadership is demonstrably committed to victory.
Pls immediately begin pursuit of finding a position that thrills you!
I've read each of the 26 comments posted thus far. Respectfully, each of them misses the mark by a wide margin.
THIS:
Assuming that you're healthy and remain mentally/physically vigorous, answer the below questions authentically:
1. Are you sick and tired of current daily routine and lack of intellectual stimulation?
(You're obviously restless, hence posing this question).
2. Have you curated a list of startup ideas that are of interest and within scope of skill-set?
3. Has a restful night of slumber devolved into hours upon hours of visualizing the ONE product that will inspire the drive, discipline and creativity required to build and introducee it to the world?
You're objecting to receiving a personalized email from a startup team that is griding to bring a product to market? This email is well written and polite, including praise for competitor.
True thanks for the time and care needed to script above. All points clear and logical.
The vast majority of engineers will always view sales as a necessary evil, and thus the percentage whom achieve even base level competency is staggeringly low.
In contrast, elite sales people are both driven and financially rewarded to master the nuances and myriad client incentives you outline above. Further, they are high IQ and will work tirelessly from outset to acquire deep knowledge of all required to serve the engineering team, close customers and contribute to P&L.
With rare exceptions a startup is ill-advised to not hire a sales lead from very early days. Involving this high achiever intimately with totality of inaugural customer acquisition is best practice, not doing so is akin to asking an offensive lineman to run a crossing route in the red zone.
Mark is a treasure and unique to his peer group. If you're a student of startups his blog (bothsidesofthetable.com) is mandatory reading in same class of PG's essays and pmarca's blog.
This month marks the 14th anniversary of the '08 financial collapse, a debacle founded upon naked greed, corruption and cronyism.
In late August '08 I was epitome of rags to riches American Dream, bootstrapped founder of a 100+ person startup boasting 12 consecutive years 2x growth, 8-figs liquid and a signed LOI that represented generational wealth. Easy guess what happened next......
To answer your question Sirspacey, I'm nearly as passionate about crypto/blockchain rendering global feds impotent as I am about loving my amazing wife and children.
Dear friend, grab a pitcher of water and fill the glass to minimum 51%.
Your response, while applicable to the car salesman pushing the useless add-on feature or Best Buy associate shilling a warranty for the crappy laptop you just bought, is a galaxy away from the issue I've raised. Each of us is granted limited time on this earth, I'd urge you to consider only working on software that remedies a problem you truly care about.
Respectfully, the experience you outline above is a routine example of sales hackery. Does it not ideally underscore precisely why startups/tech orgs strategically error in their woeful sales hiring protocols?
In the U.S. & around the world sales pro's earn multi-six & 7-figure incomes (Read: more than most physicians, attorneys, engineers, etc.), yet most founders fail to recognize their import. For example, startups regularly task a co-founder or, gulp, initial admin hire to engage a prospect list or subset thereof. It is an enormous mistake that yields suboptimal adherence to best-practice and crucially, a flawed data set that a founder may clumsily use to forecast growth, churn etc.
The sales talent required to build processes, identify most promising inbound/outbound prospect funnels, execute script/price-point analysis & closing ratio's, etc. to bring a v1 to market is immense. Respectfully, your friend is woefully unqualified to serve your startup well. A B2B with pricing model you've suggested requires a 10x pro.
Real estate is "real world" in big way. Most American's have majority of net worth in home/equity. As an industry, it remains terribly inefficient with incompetent Realtors costing users (consumers) real dollars. Billions of dollars of real estate each year is transacted using Realtors who do less than 1 sale per month, have limited market knowledge, no credential deeming them worthy negotiators, etc.
What is the "uber of real estate"?
Zillow & Trulia are just content sites that afford advertising opportunities to Realtors. Redfin will never achieve mass because sophisticated buyers & sellers will not---nor should they---trust these industry newbies with such responsibility. (Note: Redfin almost exclusively hires the wet behind the ears)
Interested in HN thoughts on this & it's correlation to Sam's post.