[bmmayer1]

One reason this woefully reductive article doesn't mention is the value of learning about what not to do when the time comes to start your own startup. Why caring about optics instead of revenue is a bad idea. Why peddling reputation instead of product can get you in trouble. How dangerous founder-founder disagreements can be for morale and success. How important it is to hire good talent.

The fact is, if you choose to start your career working for a startup, you will likely work for a failing one. That can be a more valuable lesson than working for a successful one.

Established companies have largely weeded out inefficiencies, problems with product-market fit, and so on. If you work for a startup, you will learn very quickly why you don't see the "startup culture" in mature companies--at least not all the bells and whistles associated with a startup--because it doesn't work. Letting employees work from anywhere when the company has no sense of direction doesn't work. Paying for meals 3x a day for the whole staff when there's no bottom line revenue because the CEO would rather be photographed with a celebrity than make a sale doesn't work. Giving entry-level employees right out of college the power and responsibility to distract the company from its core mission doesn't work.