Help me HN,
I am a freshman at a local university enrolled in CS, over the past year my abilities have become somewhat infamous on campus, reaching professors and eventually landing me an an internship at Google, which starts next month. Along side, I have been pursing a startup idea which in the past few weeks has gained a LOT of traction to the point where I need to decide. I have applied to YC and unfortunately didn't get in, however I was able to secure a better seed-round from local angels, I'm supposed to make a final decision in the next few weeks.
I am feeling pressured to take up the Google position (plus, how would I break it to them that "sorry guys, I've got a better position") because it is basically a guaranteed win at life later on (employment-wise) and seems pretty low-risk, however the potential rewards from the startup are not to be dismissed either -- plus, I always wanted to do something like that.
This has been stressing me out a lot, making me unable to sleep at night as I realise I'm a day closer to make a life changing decision and I still have no idea...
What should I do?
Google Internship will give you a certain kind of experience... But nothing on Earth is like the experience of doing a startup.
Also having "Google Intern" in your resume isn't a Golden Ticket. So don't think of it like that.
I'm quite certain the people at Google have been reluctantly turned down before, so don't worry too much about that. Especially if you honestly tell them why, and that it's been an extremely hard decision for you.
This is just my opinion.