I just went through this conflict myself; there were several great startups to choose from and yet I ultimately anchored myself to Google. A lot of my rationale

I just went through this conflict myself; there were several great startups to choose from and yet I ultimately anchored myself to Google. A lot of my rationale is anchored in a personal desire to become financially independent and get into more of a semi-retirement lifestyle and may not be relevant, but... * Higher total compensation (after negotiating!) - though salary + bonus were competitive the additional equity really pushed the offer up and it's less ephemeral than younger companies * 50% 401k matching basically adds +$9k to the offer and fits right into my financial goals * Promotion potential; growing into a senior role is (mostly) defined and commensurately compensated There are also a few other financial perks that Google enables me to take advantage of that further sweetened the deal and were aligned with my financial goals. There were many trade-offs made, but this overall aligned best with my long-term goals.