I don't come from an Ivy league background, but I did join a start-up directly after school instead of joining a more traditional company. I did it because it

I don't come from an Ivy league background, but I did join a start-up directly after school instead of joining a more traditional company. I did it because it was interesting and seemed like way more fun, and also I could wear jeans and combat boots to work. Money was not a motivator, and the stock options were, of course, not worth the paper they were never actually printed on. There are those people who feel the money draw, and that's fine, and then there are those who prefer a different set of challenges. They go to work for non-profits, they join start ups or become entrepreneurs, they take their Columbia degree to the wilderness to count mayfly populations. I'm not convinced a start up would necessarily want to attract the kind of person who prefers money and security.