[failquicker]

"The experience I could gain at that new company is probably loads more than I could ever get slogging away on my own."

It kind of seems like you've already made up your mind here. If you think that you can get more value out of the job for the time being, don't feel bad about taking it.

I see the big variable that you haven't talked about here is your commitment level to this particular startup. Is it something that you love doing? Or is it just something you are passing time with.

In my experience, I've built startups that I could have jumped ship on. With others, that thought wouldn't have even entered my mind.

So I think the variables here are more than just should I take the job or not. We don't know your situation well enough. My guess is you are already leaning one way though.

[rodyk]

The idea I'm working on is definitely something that I want to do, and it's something that I truly believe could be useful to some people, so it's not something I could turn my back on at a moment's notice.

The other factor also is that I'd like to at least prove to myself that I'm able to launch something of my own, which, honestly speaking, constitutes a large part of the hesitation I'm facing.

I see benefits in both situations – self-validation vs opportunity, so I wouldn't say I'm leaning one way or another particularly.

All the same, I think your comment has given me some perspective to think about, thanks.

[failquicker]

Well, I'm glad to hear you say that. I actually read you as leaning the other way. I'm glad I was wrong. So let me jump in on this side.

The question is not opportunity vs. self-validation, it's opportunity vs opportunity. If you believe in what your doing, and you can keep chugging along doing that, that's what I would do. Thank the company for the opportunity but tell them you are committed to your startup, they will respect that. And if they don't, you probably didn't want to work there anyway.

On the note of experience. At the job you are being offered, most likely you would gain specific technical experience. But you get hordes of experience from running a startup too. The startup experience tends to be on more of a macro level and you will find it useful in many aspects of your life. Running your own company will force you to put on lots of hats and give you a more complete look at how things fit together on a grander scale.

Not saying that the job experience is not valuable. Just reminding you not to forget about the experience you are already getting at your startup.

Self validation is cool too.

So what's this startup? =)

[rodyk]

I guess I forgot to mention that this job is with yet another startup. Though true, I'd probably be looking at a much narrower scope than running my own gig.

The team there is still small, but the guys at the helm have set up and sold their own companies before and have pretty good contacts and networks from what I hear (hence the opportunities for learning and gaining contacts). So unfortunately, it's not as clear cut as startup-vs-corporate life.

As for my startup, no offence, but I probably won't discuss it here… though hopefully we'll be able to announce something small soon =)