this is all great advice from
@joulee!
some thoughts.
1) my hot take is that if you are a good founding designer material (0-1 product, not post-PMF), and thats what you are interested in doing then you should seriously consider doing your own thing/co-founding.
similar risk, much higher reward (material and emotional) and problem surface area. you get to "design" a product, an organization and a culture.
2) very few designers are capable of being a good founding designer and can truly steer the strategy and positioning in interesting places more so than just the pixels. see next point why.
3) lastly finding a thought partner who matches your wavelength in the ceo/cofounders is very rare. you could have the most amazing ideas but they need to be aligned with how the cofounders see the company and world to truly be earnestly be believed in by the whole company.
design is a way of looking at the world and seeing a different/better one. not just a tool to improve funnels or draw UI.
very very few companies get this.