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Unless you're a founder, joining a startup is a terrible deal. There's no two ways about it.
by seansmccullough 11y ago
Unless you're a founder, joining a startup is a terrible deal. There's no two ways about it.
- harryh 11y agoBecause everyone should have the exact same risk tolerance as you. And if they don't, they're wrong. There's no two ways about it.
- seansmccullough 11y agoBoth the odds and rewards are much smaller than most people assume. You can take all the risks you want - if the rewards don't justify it, it's a bad deal.
- harryh 11y agoI agree with you that some people probably overestimate those two things. But I also think that other people tend to lump all startups together with the assumption that the risk is more or less the same across all of them. In reality risk/reward ratio certainly varies by at least 10x across opportunities. Consider the difference between a seed stage company with no users and a product that doesn't even work yet vs a Series B company with significant traction and 10s of millions in the bank. These can be hugely different situations. But, even if you ignore this, I come back to the concept of risk tolerance. No matter what #s you choose, there are certainly people out there who by dint of personality, age, or financial situation are perfectly willing to take on a lot of risk.