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Ask HN: How do I choose between a job offer from Google and a promising startup?

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Re: Ask HN: How do I choose between a job offer from Google and a promising startup?

#11
Obviously pick google. Google signals that you are in the top 1% of human intelligence (which you must be if you passed the interviews). This is enormously helpful in future interviews and to VCs if you go the startup route yourself. Outside of FB and a handful of top startups and finance companies no company offers such a signal - some like Amazon SDE1 signify the opposite.

Disclaimer - I’m an Amazon SDE1.

Re: Ask HN: How do I choose between a job offer from Google and a promising startup?

#12
I think the two things are what do you want to do and where are you in your career?

Being at Google is the safe easy money and will most likely work out better than your startup from an odds perspective. However, you'll be a cog in a very large company whereas the startup you'll probably be able to have a huge impact in (presumably if you're getting 6% in options, that's like first/second engineer there or you're an exec).

If this is your first job one thing to consider is that having worked at Google definitely is a good spot on your resume, recruiters like it, you'll get reached out to by lots of other recruiters, it'll be super easy to find another job which can honestly be more challenging if you just have no name failed startups on your resume.

There is probably also more potential for title advancement at the new startup also vs. google.

In my mind Google is a lot of sure money and you get to have a small impact on something with potentially huge impact to the world/people/whatever

Small startups are a very small chance of some amount of money on the levels of (car, house, fuck you) and you get to have a large impact on something that may or may not have any discernible external impact.

Re: Ask HN: How do I choose between a job offer from Google and a promising startup?

#13
Try Google for a couple of years. Move around and work on different teams. Leave and join a startup of your choosing. The Google brand is like going to Stanford or something. You'll have many more options and better connections. Maybe you'll also have enough cash to start your own thing.

Re: Ask HN: How do I choose between a job offer from Google and a promising startup?

#14
If you're young, choose the startup. Say things work out: great! Say things don't work out: you'll have had an interesting experience, and can then go work for Google.

1. If Google has offered you a position now, they absolutely will offer you a position later. You wouldn't be burning any bridges, especially if you choose a startup over them. 2. It'll be a lot easier going from a startup to Google, than from the comforts (and money) of Google to a startup.

Re: Ask HN: How do I choose between a job offer from Google and a promising startup?

#15

Advice from someone who had a similar choice and went the startup route: choose the Google option. It will not only open doors for you for all your future jobs, but you can invest the money now and create a nice start for yourself. There will never be any shortage of interesting startups to work for in the future.

+1 for that. Later either join a post A round startup with traction or start your own thing.

Re: Ask HN: How do I choose between a job offer from Google and a promising startup?

#16
I did the startup thing. The ROI was crap compared to working at Google.

If you want to do the startup thing go ahead. You will have more stress and less money at the end of it compared to Google but Google will still be there to hire you at the end.

Re: Ask HN: How do I choose between a job offer from Google and a promising startup?

#17
To me it sounds like Google...

Take what Google offers as a baseline. Convert the difference per year to stock at a realistic valuation (as in, if you were a VC what would you give). Compare it, factoring in the strike price (so at a strike price of 0 you will be offered 6%/4 per year..)

Perhaps throw in a 20% rebate for "more fun job", but then again remember that the "VC valuation" of the stock is what VCs with a lot more capability for risk than you, so perhaps you want a 20% risk penalty (or more!)

"But the startup cannot afford to pay market". No, but they should compensate through sufficient ownership. Otherwise you will just be working hard to try to make someone else rich.

You don't say what stage it is, current valuation etc which is very important here.

Re: Ask HN: How do I choose between a job offer from Google and a promising startup?

#20

Advice from someone who had a similar choice and went the startup route: choose the Google option. It will not only open doors for you for all your future jobs, but you can invest the money now and create a nice start for yourself. There will never be any shortage of interesting startups to work for in the future.

Google is also a very good learning opportunity; there is lots of training available to employees, you will be working with very talented people, and will get to see how the planet-scale dogfood is made first hand.
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