Building on this. I've been deeply involved (4+ years at each) in three startups. Two where acquired and one is still going profitable. I wore a lot of hats a

Building on this. I've been deeply involved (4+ years at each) in three startups. Two where acquired and one is still going profitable. I wore a lot of hats and learned an amazing amount of stuff at all of them. Despite my lucky track record, the main financial benefit I got was being acquired while I was an executive of one startup. My 1% stake was worthless, but the retention cash and RSUs I got from the acquiring company weren't insignificant. Most people got a much smaller amount of cash and RSUs were on par with any other employee of the company. If you want to learn, grow, and be a big fish in a small pond, go for a startup. It's fun, frenetic, stressful at times, and you can have as big an impact as you want. If you have dreams of $$$, stay at a public company that can shower you with cash and RSUs.