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Have you seen the bloodshed in the NASDAQ lately? It's wiped out quite a bit of wealth... although it was fairly overheated and tech was due for a major correct

Have you seen the bloodshed in the NASDAQ lately? It's wiped out quite a bit of wealth... although it was fairly overheated and tech was due for a major correction, but damn watching those gains come down was painful. :/

freewilly1040 6y ago
Still not close to the very common experience of having equity you worked years for cash out to nothing!
- jefftk 6y ago
  Or less than nothing: I paid to exercise my options when I left my first start up, and they were eventually worth much less than I'd paid.
  - freewilly1040 6y ago
    We have similar experiences. I might disagree with advice to college grads to not pursue a startup though. It can be more fun, and if you are going to be tempted by it it's good to take the hit in your 20's when (probably) it doesn't matter too much.
    - bradlys 6y ago
      > We have similar experiences. I might disagree with advice to college grads to not pursue a startup though. It can be more fun, and if you are going to be tempted by it it's good to take the hit in your 20's when (probably) it doesn't matter too much. I'd take FAANG over most any startup and would've if they had given me an offer. I speak as someone who has been in 3 startups before they were 30 (seed stage to unicorn). I think startups (startups that have high chance of no exit - <$500 mil valuation, less than 100 employees, <50 engineers) are better suited for people who have significant experience. If you join a startup - it is frequently filled full to the brim of FAANG rejects, young people who don't realize what FAANG offers, and people from different industries trying to break into tech... which means it's almost always the blind leading the blind. You will not learn best practices, you will inevitably find it very hard to switch into a big company, and your resume will look like shit (meaning you will always get subpar offers/interviews) until that startup either becomes a rocket ship OR you join a big co. Risking your 20's in hopes you get ultra rich is a fools errand when you could reliably get $350K+/yr by 30 when joining FAANG when you're in your early 20's. No startup is going to give you an offer that will even be good anyway! There's no way you're going to join a startup as a entry level engineer and get an option package that will be worth anything.

freewilly1040 6y ago

Still not close to the very common experience of having equity you worked years for cash out to nothing!

jefftk 6y ago
Or less than nothing: I paid to exercise my options when I left my first start up, and they were eventually worth much less than I'd paid.
- freewilly1040 6y ago
  We have similar experiences. I might disagree with advice to college grads to not pursue a startup though. It can be more fun, and if you are going to be tempted by it it's good to take the hit in your 20's when (probably) it doesn't matter too much.
  - bradlys 6y ago
    > We have similar experiences. I might disagree with advice to college grads to not pursue a startup though. It can be more fun, and if you are going to be tempted by it it's good to take the hit in your 20's when (probably) it doesn't matter too much. I'd take FAANG over most any startup and would've if they had given me an offer. I speak as someone who has been in 3 startups before they were 30 (seed stage to unicorn). I think startups (startups that have high chance of no exit - <$500 mil valuation, less than 100 employees, <50 engineers) are better suited for people who have significant experience. If you join a startup - it is frequently filled full to the brim of FAANG rejects, young people who don't realize what FAANG offers, and people from different industries trying to break into tech... which means it's almost always the blind leading the blind. You will not learn best practices, you will inevitably find it very hard to switch into a big company, and your resume will look like shit (meaning you will always get subpar offers/interviews) until that startup either becomes a rocket ship OR you join a big co. Risking your 20's in hopes you get ultra rich is a fools errand when you could reliably get $350K+/yr by 30 when joining FAANG when you're in your early 20's. No startup is going to give you an offer that will even be good anyway! There's no way you're going to join a startup as a entry level engineer and get an option package that will be worth anything.