> The bigger question in my mind is why you got into so many situations with failing startups- were they doomed to fail and you just didn't have the business sense to see that?
I think you answered that yourself in the prior paragraph. Joining a company is like rolling the dice. As an employee, you generally have no idea which ones will succeed and which ones will fail. You pick a horse and hitch to it. I look back to my friends in undergrad. We were about as smart and hard working as each other, but comparatively where we are in our careers today seems largely based on how lucky we got in picking which companies to work for.
> The bigger question in my mind is why you got into so many situations with failing startups- were they doomed to fail and you just didn't have the business sense to see that?
I think you answered that yourself in the prior paragraph. Joining a company is like rolling the dice. As an employee, you generally have no idea which ones will succeed and which ones will fail. You pick a horse and hitch to it. I look back to my friends in undergrad. We were about as smart and hard working as each other, but comparatively where we are in our careers today seems largely based on how lucky we got in picking which companies to work for.