While I agree with a few things here, I also agree you are very much a cynic (and that can be good).
I too am a cynic, but I also believe that the startup culture we have created has many more benefits than you seem to weigh in on.
I don't work at a startup to get rich, I work at a startup to figure out what I did wrong with my own business(es) in the past. I joined each of the companies I have worked at in the past 3+ years to learn and love my job... big emphasis on these two ideals.
I want to better myself, I want to see how other people succeed and fail, I want to see how I deal with failure without risking my own investment(s) like I have in the past.
I think -- I hope -- that other people in the scene feel the same way.
This is a learning experience, and so far I have learned that this approach to raising massive amounts of money for an inevitably doomed business is totally fucking flawed.
I will start a business within the next year, and like my previous business(es) I will do it with my own money, it will be cashflow positive at launch, and it will succeed because I will not make the same mistakes as others before me.
I only know this because I have joined startups that have failed miserably, as I sat and watched the management teams, and board members struggle to cooperate.
I hope others see this as the same opportunity. This is a chance for us to learn how to be better business people, engineers, and designers without taking the burden of risk.
Sure we will work hard, we will also play hard, and hopefully love our jobs. Some of us will move on to start a business of our own, and with the knowledge we gained from these experience, we get our value out of it. Its not the equity, or compensation, its learning.
I don't really know anyone aside from founders and first hires that take a pay hit to go work at a startup, most of my friends, and myself, make fair market salaries, but the learning opportunities are massive compared to the corporate alternatives.
I too am a cynic, but I also believe that the startup culture we have created has many more benefits than you seem to weigh in on.
I don't work at a startup to get rich, I work at a startup to figure out what I did wrong with my own business(es) in the past. I joined each of the companies I have worked at in the past 3+ years to learn and love my job... big emphasis on these two ideals.
I want to better myself, I want to see how other people succeed and fail, I want to see how I deal with failure without risking my own investment(s) like I have in the past.
I think -- I hope -- that other people in the scene feel the same way.
This is a learning experience, and so far I have learned that this approach to raising massive amounts of money for an inevitably doomed business is totally fucking flawed.
I will start a business within the next year, and like my previous business(es) I will do it with my own money, it will be cashflow positive at launch, and it will succeed because I will not make the same mistakes as others before me.
I only know this because I have joined startups that have failed miserably, as I sat and watched the management teams, and board members struggle to cooperate.
I hope others see this as the same opportunity. This is a chance for us to learn how to be better business people, engineers, and designers without taking the burden of risk.
Sure we will work hard, we will also play hard, and hopefully love our jobs. Some of us will move on to start a business of our own, and with the knowledge we gained from these experience, we get our value out of it. Its not the equity, or compensation, its learning.