[version_five]

> Early employees have to work like crazy and get very little upside for the risk they take

For some people that is more interesting than a boring corporate job. There are lots of interesting aspects to being in a small company building something. Not everyone is trying to maximize monetary return on effort.

Biggest challenge with startups for experienced people in my experience is inexperienced founders who haven't sorted out the difference between coordinating work and telling people how to do something. But that gets better with time, and isn't a reason to abandon startups altogether.