This, That, and the Other

I had a decent job, for decent pay, at a decent company, and I liked what I was doing. I’d been there for almost ten years and I was not looking for a change.

Then, out of the blue, I got a call from a headhunter — an executive recruiter is what he called himself. He wanted to talk with me about “an exciting opportunity.” I wasn’t playing hard to get, but as I said, I wasn’t looking for a career change, so I told him I wasn’t interested.

He said, “Let me overnight some information to you. Take a look, read it over, and I’ll call you the day after tomorrow.”

I said, “Yeah, sure, whatever.” The next day I received a package that contained information about a small, relatively new start-up technology company in the same field I was in, health benefits administration. The company was looking for someone who could lead the design and development of automated health benefits claims adjudication systems. The compensation was good. The benefits were good. And the offer included equity (i.e., stock) in a privately held entity.

I had a few concerns, though. (1) We lived in the Washington, DC area and the job was in Manhattan, so we’d need to relocate. (2) My wife was pregnant. (3) Going to work at a small, start-up company was risky business.

My wife and I talked about the opportunity, the risk, the rewards, and the timing. She said it was my decision to make. I met with the headhunter to review some details. The owner of the small company and two of his associates flew to DC to meet with me.

Long story short, I took the risk of leaving a decent job at a well-established company that I’d been with for a decade, and I moved from DC to a Jersey suburb of Manhattan with my pregnant wife for a job with an entrepreneurial technology start-up.

Fortunately, as I look back at that risky decision, I have no regrets at all.