After 1+ year of working at Meta, here's why I was finally laid-off

I have had one of the most iconic, fun, and energizing rides of a lifetime that I could have ever asked for. I am so happy and thankful for all of it. Over the past decade; I’ve raised $10M across two different companies, I’ve been fired twice, I’ve hired my first employee and then some, and I also sadly fired my first employees and then some. At one point in my life, I raised $1M from Palmer Luckey while running Upload Ventures as a 26 year old, and then my whole world came crashing down when negative articles started circulating about Upload VR. I had to wire back all the capital we had just raised, disassociate myself with the brand/team, and start all over again. It was heart wrenching, and still is even today. At another point, I accepted a job offer to work at Rothenberg Ventures, then on my first day of would-be full time employment I was fired by their CEO. Only to find out a year later he was under SEC and FBI investigation, and so it wasn’t something I did wrong rather they just never should have tried to hire me in the first place. My journey has been a constant spike between really positive and seemingly negative. But every time I’ve been knocked down over the past decade, I’ve found my next role, my next startup, my next adventure.?

A little over a year ago, I posted about how I had been building my VR/AR network for nearly a decade before being hired by Meta. At the time, I decided that since I failed at building my last company, it made a lot of sense to join a larger corporation to heal my wounds.?My post received ~500 likes and ~100 comments, the most any of my post have achieved thus far. And just like that, I was off to the races as an employee for Meta.

But, just a few days ago I opened up my phone in the morning to a long email from Meta Leadership which had emboldened the words;?Unfortunately, you’ve been included in today’s layoff. It was a somewhat mixed bag of feelings, but if I’m being totally honest then I leaned much more towards happiness.

Over the past year while working in the corporate world, I learned just how much I truly love (and miss) the?feeling of creation. Specifically within the realm of entrepreneurship. And not just the feeling of creation, but I miss the adrenaline?that’s brought on by resulting stress from managing your own business.

To me, companies are like modern day armies and each CEO is her/his own leader of their army. Rather than attempting to capture land, these armies are focused on capturing profit. Defend current profits, attack for new profits, that’s the CEO army shuffle.?

While I was working in the corporate world, I never could find those same two feelings of?creation?and?adrenaline.?That being said, there are also a ton of benefits.?

Benefits of Working for Big Tech:

1. Great pay & benefits
2. remote culture
3. smart people
4. incredible 401K support
5. flexible hours
6. relaxed work culture (ie. not like Wall Street), etc…
7. The list goes on and on

I did love certain aspects, but no matter how much I pushed to give the job my all, I just couldn’t build up the level of passion required to work effortlessly. So I say thank you so so much to my boss. Although I was fired, I think he believes in me just as much as I do that I’m built for creating companies and being a full-time entrepreneur.

I had been struggling with the conflict of being an employee vs entrepreneur, but now that the decision has been made for me, I am thankful and ready to begin my next adventure. As a founder.?

The first part of my career focused on ‘what am I passionate about'?’, the second part of my career focused on ‘how can I make money?’, this third part of my career will focus on the overlap of the two — ‘what do I get fulfillment from? AND, how can I make money from it?’

Here’s the immediate list of things I’m working on;?

1. Podcast about people who create —?I’m thinking of calling it Builder Stories.?Would love to know your name suggestions/questions in comments
2. Substack Newsletter:?Port my Metaverse Monday newsletter/followers from MailerLite to?Substack
3. Website which helps people who have been recently laid off to get jobs —?if you’re interested to hear the product idea,?schedule ?time with me. Or, you can?help me beta test by recording a testimonial ?about my career in VR
4. Website for Real Estate investors who focus on hard-money lending — ‘where do you find and compare hard money lenders?’?This question needs a better answer in 2023.
5. Consultancy where I can provide my expertise in exchange for income?— you can DM me directly if you'd like to work together [email protected]
6. Daily posts re-capping my goals, accomplishments, and updates on each project —?Most importantly, the goal is just simply not to sit still, and not to be lazy. They say, ‘if you keep pedaling you won’t lose balance on the bike’ and so the key is to get fired, wake up the next day and start working on discovering what’s next.?