Wow from the sound of it all, sounds like staying at a wall st job with a decent pay/bonus is better than joining a startup, except for the possibility of working on something kick-ass.
As I gather, start-ups have always been that way. Only people who really stand a chance of making it big are the founders and the investors; as a regular-Joe employee you make competitive compensation on a good day, so you should really be there because you like the work, not because you want big money.
You work at a startup because you believe in the mission, want to have a bigger impact, your co-workers rock and you want to KNOW how to start one someday. The exit is the gamble for gravy.
1) Business owners will just take advantage of this (this thread is littered with comments that show exactly this). You will get less pay and make them rich.
I'm really sick of companies that think I will take a 30-50% pay cut for a foosball table and Nerf-gun fights on Fridays.
2) You can gain valuable experience by starting your own company. There are plenty of blogs, articles, and sites like HN that can help you along the way.
Don't take the 30-50% pay cut, use the money to buy your office a foosball table, and go out and play laser tag on Fridays? If you need your officemates to be there, pay their fees, and you'll probably still come out ahead.
i left my electronic trading job, which had great compensation, to move to san francisco and work at a startup. i knew i'd be taking a pay cut, but i did it for the experience, so i could be better prepared to do my own startup.
It depends on what you do at the startup. If you are coding away just like you would at the electronic trading firm, you wouldn't learn much about running your own startup.
Are you involved in customer development, talking to investors, making connections as part of the startup? If not, there's not much upside.
As far as income goes, yeah, and you should be able to easily save up enough to start your own company with a much higher chance of a worthwhile payout. Plus some of the Wall St. players have very interesting problems to solve, much more so than your typical groupon-for-used-baby-clothes startup.
In my experience the best reason to work for a startup is the freedom it gives you. No "architecture board" telling you what technology you can and can't use. No reprimands when you stray from your assigned niche.
I'd definitely advise against taking an insufficient salary and thinking the equity you may receive in exchange will cover the loss. The odds of that aren't really any better than gambling. Fortunately there are plenty of early-stage startups willing to pay fair salaries and decent benefits!
