Re:The Prestige Trap: finance, big tech, and consulting
by notacoward on Saturday November 14, 2020 @01:11PM
(#25094206)
> it sucks to be an early employee at most startups
Absolutely. I worked at ten, with employee numbers from single digits up to about fifty. As we all know, most startups fail. Even among those that succeed, few employees avoid all of the traps that founders and VCs create for them (e.g. dilution and special share classes) to get more than a modest payout at the exit. For most, even that "big payout" might not match the year-after-year premium they could have gotten by working and climbing the ladder at one of the already-big tech companies.
As one point of evidence, my two semi-successful exits did help me retire earlier and in more comfort than I otherwise might have. I'm grateful for that. OTOH, my three and a half undistinguished years at Facebook helped more.
Absolutely. I worked at ten, with employee numbers from single digits up to about fifty. As we all know, most startups fail. Even among those that succeed, few employees avoid all of the traps that founders and VCs create for them (e.g. dilution and special share classes) to get more than a modest payout at the exit. For most, even that "big payout" might not match the year-after-year premium they could have gotten by working and climbing the ladder at one of the already-big tech companies.
As one point of evidence, my two semi-successful exits did help me retire earlier and in more comfort than I otherwise might have. I'm grateful for that. OTOH, my three and a half undistinguished years at Facebook helped more.