[Jach]

> The statistics being what they are

What statistics? You occasionally read about startup employees or (co-)founders killing themselves, that's not a statistic. What's the rate compared to non-startup jobs? Suicide is a problem across the board.

If someone is suffering from depression but has even a weak desire to do a startup, I'm not so sure encouraging them to take that job at BigCo is really good advice. A lot of people found or work for startups or small companies simply because they can't stand the corporate dynamics at BigCo, whether it's not being responsible for enough things and feeling like you have no impact, or doing boring things day after day, or bad management and bosses, or something else--if you feel like you wouldn't like a corporate job and you're already depressed, getting that job at a stable company is just going to aggravate you further. The academic world isn't necessarily better; if the games you need to play as a funded researcher aren't to your taste, that too will aggravate you.

Maybe instead of saying "stay away from startups" I'd argue "stay away from startups with an explicit goal of getting big or really rich fast", or more simply "stay away from Extreme Startups". Perhaps encouraging a focus on lifestyle businesses is a better approach?

[jacquesm]

> What statistics?

The statistics of start-up failure, which is pretty much a given, success is the exception.

[Jach]

D'oh, sorry, I misread that as statistics of suicide in startups. Maybe if the "or" later on in the sentence was replaced by "and" it would be clearer, but that narrows your statement.

[jacquesm]

No problem, I've re-written that sentence it now reads: "The failure rate of start-ups being what it is, if you are suffering from depression or if failure is not your thing then start-ups are the very last place that you should be."

That should get rid of any ambiguity. Thank you!