[apalmer]

I dont think startup CEOs have any requirement to do this type of thing. On the other hand I think there is a powerful reality distortion field around start ups. Its literally more work than at bigco, for about 70% of the salary, for a lotto ticket that has a 1 in 1000 chance of pay off, and the jackpot payoff is something like 50K-100K.

Really Really doesnt make sense unless you enjoy the atmosphere you are not going to get rich as an employee in a start up, even if the start up sells for 500 million. you are going to get back the 30% a year you lost by not going to bigco unless the founders just feel like making everyone rich.

[sharkweek]

Good points, but one thing to keep in mind - a lot of people just enjoy working at smaller companies.

I did some time at a large financial institution making great money, but absolutely hated how empty it all felt. Nothing got done, nothing changed, nobody listened to me.

I work at a much smaller company now, and almost everything I do on a daily basis has a measurable impact. I can literally watch the things me and my team do increase the bottom line. I derive value from this myself, as it allows me to grow my team, hire new employees, give people responsibility of their own, etc.

[pm90]

I can totally relate. I mean, I've only ever worked for small companies for that very reason.

Have you tried working for a big software company instead of a financial institution? I know that banks don't treat software devs all that well, but shops like Google, FB, Rackspace etc. have a pretty good reputation of having a great culture and work environment.

Personally, I've only worked for small shops. Nearly all the places I'm currently interviewing are BigCo's though, and I'm not sure how that is going to turn out.

[seivan]

This would be the main attraction for me as well. What kills me at larger places (and even smaller soul-less companies) is the amount of dead weight and inefficiency.

Bullshit work created by people with bullshit titles for bullshit reasons.

[MichaelGG]

Perhaps it is similar to how people buy lottery tickets for an epsilon chance of super happiness? Except it's easier to convince yourself that this startup isn't in a random lottery. And that your work can really influence things and change the outcome. It's true to some extent, but people are usually too prone to not even thinking about the priors.