Back in 2010 I had to pick between a steady office job or a risky startup offer.

The office gig paid $55k a year with full benefits. The startup offered $40k and a 2% stake, but the hours were crazy. I took the startup job because I was young and wanted to build something. We worked 70 hour weeks for three years before the company got bought out. My share ended up being worth about $80k after taxes, which was good but not life changing. Looking back, was the stress and lower pay for those years worth the experience and that payout? Anyone else face a similar choice back then?

2 comments

2 Comments

the_amy1mo ago

Yeah, I read a piece once that argued the real value in those early startup years isn't the money, it's the crash course in how a business actually works (or falls apart). For 80k after three brutal years, the math seems rough against the steady paycheck you passed up. But that hands-on experience, the stuff you learned by doing everything wrong until you got it right, that's hard to put a price on. It probably set you up way better for whatever you did next than the office job would have.

faithk921mo ago

But what if you just go broke learning it?