the startup

Do you have an MBA or are you straight out of undergrad? I would go for the start up. If it doesn't work you could go for an MBA. Business schools seem to really like entrepreneurs.

I'm 18 months out of undergrad (t20 school, not ivy). Could I get into banking if this blows up? What would my other options be?

to the OP, I just moved into IBD from a tech consulting start-up. PM me with any questions.

Lol considering you have funding and who is funding you...startup. Much, much, much better (unless he's funding you with like a pittance of a couple hundred k, then probably not baller). But if he's putting in at least seven figs of his own money, then do it.

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Go for the Start Up...If you screw up there's the MBA...if you don't, then the risk/reward profile is much better than a cushy ib job

What about research do you dislike so much?

To ghenghis khan, I hate the passiveness. Ie studying something for so long waiting for a thesis to play out. I'm less interested in stock prices and more interested in a process oriented role (like completing a merger, or launching a capital raise). Further, I think research culture exudes mediocrity (at least where I am). The idnustry I cover is really boring too.

What about the skills I wouldn't get if I didn't go into banking? I think there's a lot more I can learn in banking that I can't in research? I had been hoping the startup could be acquisition intensive down the road, so banking might help. Finally, I always wanted to go to a megafund, and the startup kills that ambition.

In sum, I don't want to just be another entrepreneur. Hence the risks involved.

From a college kid, I can say I would love a chance to work at a startup. I can imagine it's rare enough to get an idea off the ground, much less get significant funding early on.

Anyone else? Thanks for all of the advice so far.

I was CFO for a PE-funded start-up technology company. It didn't go anywhere but what I learned during that time was well worth taking the risk. My advice is to do the start-up.

lol why is this even a question?

I'm not in your shoes, but I left M&A for a prominent NYC startup and don't regret it one bit. It is a different experience completely, and I think people that thrive in either, are rarely the same breed. I wasn't a horrible analyst, but I was not the type to be subservient, and just wanted more responsibility - which wasnt possibly in my bank. Also - I just don't really care if someone has VP or Director on their title, I never felt that was enough for them to be the worlds biggest dbag(and I let them know that).

At my startup - it's been a phenomenal experience - to work closely with some big names in the internet space, have funding to you can really see capital being deployed (efficiently and inefficiently), and most of all, learning to wear a ton of hats. The best part is when you discuss an idea, and see it begin to go into action the next week. To see one round of funding at X valuation, and then another one several months later at a much higher valuation is also exciting (esp if you have a lot of equity).

Working on big deals is exciting, and you certainly learn a lot, but at the end of the day, you are still the grunt or cog in the machine, and I felt that 80% of the work I did in banking was never used, meaningless, or was irrelevant to whether the deal went through or not.

A lot of my friends still work in banking, some are jealous of what I do now, but some really like the technical aspects of working on deals, and would prefer the PE route. Best of luck though - sounds like you have a good problem to have.