
Ask HN: Does it pay off to work for a startup? - chenpengcheng
I worked for a few. Had a good run in one of them, but luck played a big part. Among the rest, hard work didn&#x27;t really pay off. What is your experience?
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pinewurst
That depends on what one considers a real startup. I've been at three that
referred to themselves as such (really four, but that one was already public
when I joined).

Two tiny ones were disasters - pocket change when one IPOed and only a sense
of relief escaping the other (like joining the Witness Protection Program),
though some alumni went on to get rich on famous stuff. The largest was a
great success, lucrative and a good education about the world - but there was
a lot there before me.

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chenpengcheng
Same experience with tiny startups. Worked like crazy and earned pennies.

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shams93
With the wrong kind of options it's easy to get shafted with a massive tax
bill depending upon what kind of options you get and how your timing is in
exercising it can be a huge risk to your future if it works out poorly.

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chenpengcheng
I never got into this situation, but heard people got options but they became
underwater after IPO (e.g. Dropbox). There are several hot startups that had a
lot of hype, but turned out just so so. I work for a VC funded startup now,
but I feel there have been huge dilution, so I started asking if it is worth
it. There is poor work life balance and liquidity risk. At the end, if a
company goes IPO, I don't expect to make too much money. Why not get a job at
a big company and enjoy life.

