[kayoone]

Sounds strange to me. I put alot of my own money and some of my parents into my startup, got seed financing and failed 2 years later. I am now 30 and still have to pay back my parents and havent saved a dime in my life while being a pretty decent software developer (not in the US). I learned a ton, but financially it has been a disaster.

So a Big-Co job ist still not too bad when starting out imo, you probably wont learn as much but startups are high-risk if you take it seriously.

[argonaut]

Well, the mistake you made (and that a 19-year old starting a company should avoid) was getting into debt in the first place, even if it was with your family.

[kayoone]

yeah, felt like the right decision back then though as we were gaining traction.

[intrazoo]

Your comment sounds reasonable to me. Maybe a good middle ground in the beginning would be to work for a startup? Or somehow reduce financial risk.