Good for you.
I was in startups for 25 years, (except for a few years in an acquiring company), and I had this ongoing debate with myself and my bosses for many years: Should I stay on the technical side (developer, architect), or go into management?
On one hand, I thought that I "should" go into management because ... that's what people do, right? On the other hand, I loathed management. Even as a team lead, meetings made me literally sick to my stomach, (well, once).
I kept torturing myself with this decision over the years, until my boss cleared it up for me. He said that if I hated being a manager, that I would suck at it, and be constantly miserable. So don't do it. It was so obvious once he said it. So I didn't become a manager, and I never worried about it again.
I was in startups for 25 years, (except for a few years in an acquiring company), and I had this ongoing debate with myself and my bosses for many years: Should I stay on the technical side (developer, architect), or go into management?
On one hand, I thought that I "should" go into management because ... that's what people do, right? On the other hand, I loathed management. Even as a team lead, meetings made me literally sick to my stomach, (well, once).
I kept torturing myself with this decision over the years, until my boss cleared it up for me. He said that if I hated being a manager, that I would suck at it, and be constantly miserable. So don't do it. It was so obvious once he said it. So I didn't become a manager, and I never worried about it again.