Maybe its the "romance" and "excitement" of it? I worked for a startup in Seattle, 20+ yrs ago. It had a fun exciting buzz, and... something special about it...

Maybe its the "romance" and "excitement" of it? I worked for a startup in Seattle, 20+ yrs ago. It had a fun exciting buzz, and... something special about it... the possibility of being part of something big... and having interesting, excitingly intelligent coworkers, that you can learn a lot from, but then of course , it all went to s** (less customers due to market bust). Ultimately we were all laid off, the options I'd bought at 5c each were worth nothing. I didn't expect any riches, it was just an adventure. And importantly, 30 mins drive to the ski hill which was open at night after work.. so.. not a bad time ;). Some of the early employees were bitter. Some had tried being early employees several times in a row, tried to make it big. To me, they were intelligent people so why they didn't they see it as just a gamble which is largely out of their control? Maybe people like to kid themselves? Its the dream of America to make your fortune out of something new and exciting. Why am I even reading this discussion and commenting here? ;) Becos' there's something intangible but exciting about it all. But a lot of it is fantasy. Maybe people like to work for startups for the same reason they like a good book or movie, you can suspend your disbelief and escape from the boring hum-drum where you do a 9-5 that can be similar year after year?