All very valid points. I might suggest that the longer you're with a company the easier it is to discern success from failure, at least. Something that looks

All very valid points. I might suggest that the longer you're with a company the easier it is to discern success from failure, at least. Something that looks like a good idea in year one might look terrible by year three or four. I have no idea how that applies to your personal experiences, though. I haven't yet left my first startup-employee experience (after more than 7 years), so perhaps it's too early for me to say I've learned that much, since I haven't really had to put that knowledge to the test (except when it comes to correcting problems and making forward-looking decisions). I certainly feel like I've seen a lot of things done well and a lot of things done not so well, and like I've been around long enough to see many of those decisions play out for a fairly long time. I don't think I would be able to say that if I'd only been here for one or two years. On some level, though, you personally often have to make mistakes in order to learn from them; as much as we all want to learn from the mistakes of others, it's hard. So perhaps I'm being overly optimistic and will be doomed to a future of repeating mistakes that I should theoretically know better than to make . . . ask me again in ten years, I guess . . .