I recently worked at a startup and it was terrible.
To be honest, I still worked at one of the better ones but it just sucked.
Some of the clear downsides I see
- Survival mode leads to chaos. You can be treated anyway and asked to leave whenever even though you left big opportunities to be here
- Brand loss to find next job (Big problem)
- Trying to make you feel unworthy(Doesn't bother me but I have seen people lose self confidence)
- Loss of opportunity to build real skills like building sustainable teams for the long run
I think over all working at a startup especially early teams is a losing proposition. Do it only if -
- you know the founders/team well
- you know the industry and market well and it is a bet you personally believe in
- you are secure enough in life that if you go back to your job, you will easily get employed
For middle class kids, startups are the worst bets one can take.
