I agree with yours as well. But to add to that: there are VC startups that are fun and exciting to work at and there are ones that are horrible. And the same go

I agree with yours as well. But to add to that: there are VC startups that are fun and exciting to work at and there are ones that are horrible. And the same goes for big companies btw. Overall though, the chance of finding more freedom and excitement is with small VC startups, sure. The employees that can jump ship quickly are the good performers that also live somewhere with ample opportunity. Those also are rarer than the average Joe Dev. I'm not saying it's always a really bad dicision to join a VC funded startup. But in the majority of cases, people would probably be better off not to - at least financially. Of course (and luckily) there are more factors than that.