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I'll go against the grain and say that working in startups has been hugely overrated. Each time I worked way harder for less money, and dealing directly with th

I'll go against the grain and say that working in startups has been hugely overrated. Each time I worked way harder for less money, and dealing directly with the owner/ceo makes everything so much more complicated. At a bigger company, sure it can be a bureaucratic mess - but I have been much personally happier every time. I get more resources, better pay, and much better work/life balance. I didn't realize how unhappy I was working at startups until I took a corporate job again and my wife made me promise not to do another startup until the kids are grown up.

sasawpg 5y ago
That last sentence speaks volumes - it all depends on your personality and situation. Currently I have no appetite for the startup risk and no time/desire to work myself to death on a daily basis just to see a startup succeed (or more often, fail). Work-life balance is of far more importance to me right now than anything else, including compensation (especially when broken down to an hourly wage).
- deleted 5y ago
  [deleted]
matwood 5y ago
> I'll go against the grain and say that working in startups has been hugely overrated. I don't think that's against the grain, and completely agree with the overrated part. The most surefire way for someone to become financially independent is to work in big tech. The money and job security is unmatched. I've seen it said before that entrepreneurs don't start companies because they want to, but because they have to. Either they can't get those high paying jobs at a big corp or just can't deal with the BS. I found found this to be mostly true IME. If someone can be a good corporate worker at any of the bigs techs, they should absolutely take that job over pretty much every other option.
- legitster 5y ago
  I'll also add this - I've found that startups that have founders with industry experience are light years ahead of the rest. I've worked at startups where they brag about not being a big company despite no one there even having ever worked at a big company. In hindsight, it should have been a big red flag.
- nxmnxm99 5y ago
  Odd take. I guess if you're shitty at picking startups. I know so many people who have made multiple 7 figures across secondary sales in various Series A-B companies. A VP at a fast growing SaaS company has millions in equity. Their comparable L-8 type position at BigCo won't give nearly the same upside. It's easier to make mid-high six figures at BigCo. It's easier to make a few million at startups. Frankly, the most talented people I know (outside of in engineering) always inevitably leave BigCo for a startup. BigCo is a far better place for more mediocre performers.
  - ctvo 5y ago
    In the context of engineering: > Odd take. I guess if you're shitty at picking startups. I know so many people who have made multiple 7 figures across secondary sales in various Series A-B companies. Sounds like those people are the most successful VCs ever and should consider a career switch with their ability to pick winners. > A VP at a fast growing SaaS company has millions in equity. Their comparable L-8 type position at BigCo won't give nearly the same upside. A VP at a fast growing SaaS company has millions in fake money. Their comparable L8 type position at Big Tech has ~700k-1 million yearly compensation in real money. > It's easier to make mid-high six figures at BigCo. It's easier to make a few million at startups. Frankly, the most talented people I know (outside of in engineering) always inevitably leave BigCo for a startup. Citation required. Who are these people? What were their exits? How many times did it take? Stories from a friend of a friend do not make compelling data. > BigCo is a far better place for more mediocre performers. The pool of available jobs at all start-ups dwarf what's available at Big Tech. It's very hard to argue that there's more mediocre people at Big Tech than start-ups.
    - nxmnxm99 5y ago
      Who said anything about exits? People are getting rich with ESOP and secondary sales. You seem to be ignoring an entire industry of early liquidation. I'll reiterate: top performers get rich at startups. Mediocre performers get moderately wealthy at BigCo.
      - 5y ago
granshaw 5y ago
There are many sizes of "startups" too – many Series C and above you'll probably never have to interact with the CEO directly, WLB improves too, but with lower equity and upside
- legitster 5y ago
  My rule of thumb: if it's big enough to have a dedicated HR person, it's not "really" a startup. Or it's not going to feel like one. The best size IMHO is ~100-1000 employees. Big enough that you have resources at your disposal, but small enough that you can just pick up a problem and start working it.
  - asow92 5y ago
    Absolutely. These companies aren't "startups" since they've started up a long while ago by that point.
asow92 5y ago
> I didn't realize how unhappy I was working at startups until I took a corporate job again and my wife made me promise not to do another startup until the kids are grown up. Same... but in our case the kids haven't come yet. I can't believe how difficult some weeks were for me before landing my current corporate job. My wife says that I seem a lot happier.
- dublin 5y ago
  I did that in the first few startups, but it's not necessary, and is a sign of a poorly run startup. Good startups may occasionally need that frantic burst of "get it done", but mostly, just have a "work hard, play hard" mentality. The other path always leads to burnout, and nothing is more deadly to a startup's prospects of success than a burned-out, demotivated team. If my teams have to work their asses off to get a demo or funding milestone done, I always make sure they get more than that back as time off to decompress and spend time with family. I'm also usually very flexible on hours - as long as they get the job done, I'm OK with almost any working hours they want. This is another benefit of startups - they have the flexibility to do things like that that you can't really pull off in a big co.

sasawpg 5y ago

That last sentence speaks volumes - it all depends on your personality and situation. Currently I have no appetite for the startup risk and no time/desire to work myself to death on a daily basis just to see a startup succeed (or more often, fail). Work-life balance is of far more importance to me right now than anything else, including compensation (especially when broken down to an hourly wage).

deleted 5y ago
[deleted]

matwood 5y ago

> I'll go against the grain and say that working in startups has been hugely overrated. I don't think that's against the grain, and completely agree with the overrated part. The most surefire way for someone to become financially independent is to work in big tech. The money and job security is unmatched. I've seen it said before that entrepreneurs don't start companies because they want to, but because they have to. Either they can't get those high paying jobs at a big corp or just can't deal with the BS. I found found this to be mostly true IME. If someone can be a good corporate worker at any of the bigs techs, they should absolutely take that job over pretty much every other option.

legitster 5y ago
I'll also add this - I've found that startups that have founders with industry experience are light years ahead of the rest. I've worked at startups where they brag about not being a big company despite no one there even having ever worked at a big company. In hindsight, it should have been a big red flag.
nxmnxm99 5y ago
Odd take. I guess if you're shitty at picking startups. I know so many people who have made multiple 7 figures across secondary sales in various Series A-B companies. A VP at a fast growing SaaS company has millions in equity. Their comparable L-8 type position at BigCo won't give nearly the same upside. It's easier to make mid-high six figures at BigCo. It's easier to make a few million at startups. Frankly, the most talented people I know (outside of in engineering) always inevitably leave BigCo for a startup. BigCo is a far better place for more mediocre performers.
- ctvo 5y ago
  In the context of engineering: > Odd take. I guess if you're shitty at picking startups. I know so many people who have made multiple 7 figures across secondary sales in various Series A-B companies. Sounds like those people are the most successful VCs ever and should consider a career switch with their ability to pick winners. > A VP at a fast growing SaaS company has millions in equity. Their comparable L-8 type position at BigCo won't give nearly the same upside. A VP at a fast growing SaaS company has millions in fake money. Their comparable L8 type position at Big Tech has ~700k-1 million yearly compensation in real money. > It's easier to make mid-high six figures at BigCo. It's easier to make a few million at startups. Frankly, the most talented people I know (outside of in engineering) always inevitably leave BigCo for a startup. Citation required. Who are these people? What were their exits? How many times did it take? Stories from a friend of a friend do not make compelling data. > BigCo is a far better place for more mediocre performers. The pool of available jobs at all start-ups dwarf what's available at Big Tech. It's very hard to argue that there's more mediocre people at Big Tech than start-ups.
  - nxmnxm99 5y ago
    Who said anything about exits? People are getting rich with ESOP and secondary sales. You seem to be ignoring an entire industry of early liquidation. I'll reiterate: top performers get rich at startups. Mediocre performers get moderately wealthy at BigCo.
    - 5y ago

granshaw 5y ago

There are many sizes of "startups" too – many Series C and above you'll probably never have to interact with the CEO directly, WLB improves too, but with lower equity and upside

legitster 5y ago
My rule of thumb: if it's big enough to have a dedicated HR person, it's not "really" a startup. Or it's not going to feel like one. The best size IMHO is ~100-1000 employees. Big enough that you have resources at your disposal, but small enough that you can just pick up a problem and start working it.
- asow92 5y ago
  Absolutely. These companies aren't "startups" since they've started up a long while ago by that point.

asow92 5y ago

> I didn't realize how unhappy I was working at startups until I took a corporate job again and my wife made me promise not to do another startup until the kids are grown up. Same... but in our case the kids haven't come yet. I can't believe how difficult some weeks were for me before landing my current corporate job. My wife says that I seem a lot happier.

dublin 5y ago
I did that in the first few startups, but it's not necessary, and is a sign of a poorly run startup. Good startups may occasionally need that frantic burst of "get it done", but mostly, just have a "work hard, play hard" mentality. The other path always leads to burnout, and nothing is more deadly to a startup's prospects of success than a burned-out, demotivated team. If my teams have to work their asses off to get a demo or funding milestone done, I always make sure they get more than that back as time off to decompress and spend time with family. I'm also usually very flexible on hours - as long as they get the job done, I'm OK with almost any working hours they want. This is another benefit of startups - they have the flexibility to do things like that that you can't really pull off in a big co.