For big corporations, having been an entrepreneur is a negative on your resumé. They will assume (probably correctly) that you prefer to work on your own, and that you will be less of a heads-down, "team player" type engineer which is easy to manage/throw around. Like it or not, the IT field is largely made up of this type of position. If you are applying such a place you should remove, spin or tone down your entrepreneurial endeavors.
For nimbler and more clued-in companies it will likely be a positive, since they are usually happy to have someone who doesn't settle for a comfortable desk jockey position at a corporation, and can handle the turmoil of younger companies. Only thing to be aware of is if you are applying for a technical position, they usually want someone who is happy to fill that niche, i.e. not a jack-of-all-trades who can code but also wants to be a salesman and a marketer etc. (Unless you are employee number one or two or somesuch).
These are lessons learned over a decade of being a corporate consultant, a freelancer, a startup employee and a startup founder.
>>> These are lessons learned over a decade of being a corporate consultant, a freelancer, a startup employee and a startup founder.
Great advice and something I can confirm. Worked at two smaller start ups and they loved the idea I could think outside the box and wouldn't be bothered by a fast moving, sometimes chaotic process.
Since then, I've been in the corporate world. First few interviews I was proud of the start up work I did. Didn't get either job. Was told by a recruiter to tone my start up stuff down and communicate that I'm a more of "team" player. Next interviewed with a fortune 500 corp. Played down my start up experience while highlighting some of my successes and focusing on the bigger "team" wins.
Used the same formula in the last two interviews with success as well at large corporations.
For nimbler and more clued-in companies it will likely be a positive, since they are usually happy to have someone who doesn't settle for a comfortable desk jockey position at a corporation, and can handle the turmoil of younger companies. Only thing to be aware of is if you are applying for a technical position, they usually want someone who is happy to fill that niche, i.e. not a jack-of-all-trades who can code but also wants to be a salesman and a marketer etc. (Unless you are employee number one or two or somesuch).
These are lessons learned over a decade of being a corporate consultant, a freelancer, a startup employee and a startup founder.