[Nimsical]

I've been a repeat startup employee, and have now become a founder. The reasons I chose to live this path haven't changed.

If you have a comp.-driven mindset (i.e. you'd like to become a millionaire in X years), then I think there are far faster, better, easier ways to achieve that. Join a top-tier firm in the valley / NYC and do a decent job at getting promotions and you'll be well within your way by your mid-late thirties.

The best part of being part of a startup is your ability to be in fast-paced multifaceted problem-solving environment.

You can play quiet a few roles at a small company. As an early employee (engineer or otherwise), you can look at any part of the company, product or its internal operations and decide that it's something you care enough about to fix and improve upon.

I joined my first startup as an engineer, became a product manager, did sales, built employee on-boarding flows and training manuals, re-branded the company and learnt how to manage a sizable team as I moved on to marketing. All within less than 2 years.

You can get most of those experiences elsewhere, but not within that timeframe or the depth of autonomy you would receive to get it done is not attainable in a Big Corp.

This is exceptionally great if you're early in your career, are generally good at getting tasks done, but have no idea what your calling is. You can work at a startup (or a series of them) for a few years and walk away with understanding what you'd like to focus your time and money on for the next few decades of your life.

Only caveat that I would add is that if you'd like to achieve any of that, then it's paramount that you look for the right founders. Founders that are willing to give away autonomy and let you flourish. They tend to be the best ones and produce great companies with incredibly rich cultures as a result.