I agree that there is some learning experience, but I am not sure how valuable that is. My experience working at a startup has been a learning experience on how

I agree that there is some learning experience, but I am not sure how valuable that is. My experience working at a startup has been a learning experience on how not to do things (tech) and how wrong management feels - but I actually find that a universal experience within all companies - only in a startup it's more amplified. Theoretically, it might be valuable to know how not to do things, but that's only a small slice in an infinity of options. For the how to actually do things, I think anyone involved in trying to figure that out too - and feel like luck plays a big part. My thought on this is, life-style business rather funded startup might be better in coming close to big company pay and independence - although myself, I haven't tried that.