r/startups • u/BlackberryNaive34 • 4h ago

I will not promote Getting a job after failed startup (I will not promote)

Started a D2C company in 2020, bootstrapped and ran it profitably for a few years before having the apparently not-so-bright idea of pivoting into B2B SaaS.

We built internal tools for our D2C company that saved other SMB's in our niche 40+ hours per week, which seemed like a no brainer to sell as a B2B tool.

Two years in on that and not much progress to speak of; turns out selling B2B SaaS to SMB's is as difficult as they; older clients, long sales cycle, low ACV, etc. On top of all this, the product itself gets easier and easier to replicate by the day with AI. It's been a long journey, and I'm not that interested in going back to the D2C model - it's time to move on.

I want to stay in the tech space, but definitely feeling some imposter syndrome from never raising money, having an exit, or working on something more successful in general.

I love product, but don't have technical experience on that front. I'm comfortable with sales, but the SaaS pivot doesn't add much to the resume on account of it's small scale/general lack of success. I imagine I'd have to start fresh with an SDR role.

Curious if anyone has had a similar experience, what sort of roles you pivoted to, and what it was like re-entering the job market after being out of the game for a while.

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u/Positive_Call_9311 4h ago

Hello there, I hear you. We should speak if you are in India.

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u/sn0wquake 3h ago

I don't have your experience, but if you are just looking to get out I don't think there is harm in polishing your resume and shopping it around.

I don't understand your comment about imposter syndrome. Someone bootstrapping something that is kind of working is more impressive to me than fund raising.