People who worked at startups, how was it? Do you recommend it?
Please mention the number of people in the startup, as it experiences probably vastly differ based on size
Please mention the number of people in the startup, as it experiences probably vastly differ based on size
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I have worked as an early employee at a startup that was then successfully acquired. In my experience it was great, although I think it did not match the situation at most startups. I think there were six people when I started working for them, as a freelancer at first, and then eventually we grew to about 15 and I joined full time.
I did not get any stock, I was 100% remote (I live in Europe and the company was in the US, I never even met any of my bosses or coworkers), and I never worked long hours.
It was also early in my career. I started as a freelancer, and this was my highest paying job until then, so I gladly took it. The work was hard (low-level and high-performance stuff), but as I said, I did not have to work over 40 hours per week. I did have meetings in the late afternoon though, and sometimes in the evenings, because of my time zone.
After we got acquired, I told them that because I didn't hold any stock, I still wanted some payout, so they roughly doubled my salary. The work also became more corporate and there was less of the hard but interesting stuff. Eventually I left when the company that acquired us was itself acquired, and now I work for another established company for even more money.
TL;DR: the startup was acquired, I did not get a payout but it launched my career so I'm very happy I was involved.