I've worked for ten startups. Financially, not a great idea. Like the lottery, a few win big and the vast majority lose. I had one decent exit, which is about p

I've worked for ten startups. Financially, not a great idea. Like the lottery, a few win big and the vast majority lose. I had one decent exit, which is about par for the course, and really it just brought me up to parity with my BigCo colleagues. I'll make more in four years at a FAANG company than I did in four years even at that one successful startup. As far as learning, it's also a mixed bag. Sure, you get to learn a lot of different things, but a lot of it is the digital equivalent of cleaning toilets. You might have some influence over which technologies get used, but only a small number will get used company-wide vs. the wide variety that might exist at a larger company. I was still probably able to learn more about storage and networking and HPC and other general areas at some of those startups than now, but it's not clear it was any better for my market value. Even though much of what I'm learning now is totally specific to this employer and should barely even count in any future job search, there's a lot of cargo-culting in this industry so it's likely to make more than impression than even the most innovative startup nobody ever heard of. There are a lot of reasons to choose working at a startup, but they're mostly about personal preference and fulfillment rather than doing your career or finances any good. In some ways, startups would be a better choice late in someone's career, not early.