I agree with this, and the fact that I feel there is an under-valuing of the experience working for large companies - whether that experience is good or bad (in

I agree with this, and the fact that I feel there is an under-valuing of the experience working for large companies - whether that experience is good or bad (in general). Working for larger companies will make you dislike bureaucracy but also understand how it mitigates risk (and hopefully allow you to find a happy medium). It also will push you to compete under pressures that you won't normally just put on yourself, it will teach you how to take customers seriously, how to build systems and applications seriously. This is not to say big companies get all this right; far from it. But working for them will make you much more bulletproof than working on your startup by yourself. This is why most successful startups are NOT started by 20-something kids, but actually 40-something former corporate employees.