Very interesting. I like this train of thought. I have a lot of developer friends that would rather (and are) pursuing their own entrepreneurial ideas than join an existing company. While I wholeheartedly support that, the flip side is fewer startup-savvy developers available to join other startups. There are a lot of reasons why they are pursuing their own ventures. A common one is: "It's not worth it to be an emplo…
Yup. If you can get a job at a tech company that offers high compensation, you will likely make more there (and gain lots of great experience) than you will at a startup.
Look at the value over 4 years: - Startup salary (~$100k-ish) vs. Tech co (~$140k-ish+) - Startup equity could be worth $1,000,000 if you get 1% and the company sells for 100 million (obviously there can be other factors here, but lets just use that number) - Large co. Stock grant could be 150k-200k+(or more!) over 4 years, and you'll likely get refresher grants on top of that each year. And the stock price will likely go up over those 4 years. So after year 4 you are making quite a bit off of your vesting stocks.
There's also a pretty good chance the startup will fail, which would net you nothing but a sub-market salary for the last few years, so it will be harder for you to negotiate a higher salary at your next gig. Or if you are acqui-hired, you'll get some small hiring bonus and then have to wait 4 more years for your new stock to vest.
To me, the only time joining a startup and taking below-market compensation is if you are just starting out and want to gain some experience you might not get at a more established company, or perhaps your skills aren't up to par so you can't get past the interviews[1].
Or maybe you just like the "startup culture", and that's cool, but why not start your own thing instead?
[1] Note that if your startup gets acqui-hired, you'll probably have to interview anyway, which could result in not getting an offer!