Working for Small companies versus Large companies - which do you prefer?

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Small companies. So long as they're well funded, have connections, can create deals. The motivation is contagious and creates a great positive feedback loop.

Large companies are where Dilbert comics come from, and I have to say that from firsthand knowledge. It's where you see people who've been in the same cubicle for twenty years and it makes you ask "where's any motivation?"

Large companies because they pay better. The day I find a small company that can pay me more and give me better benefits, I'll jump, but I havent seen it in my local area. I'm making California money in the midwest

Small companies. Much less bureaucracy, less image/HR bullshit to go through, able to wear more hats, increased responsibility. I can co-invest on deals at my firm as a junior on my team already - would not be able to do this for years if I was at a larger shop.

I think you need to define "Large" and "Small" for purposes of this thread. 

"Small business" means a lot of things to a lot of people... for example, based on my experience this is like $50MM in revenue and 250 employees. 

A high performing standout small team inside of a large company

Size doesn’t matter as much as which company will offer me equity. Small companies have less resources and in tech that generally means headaches. Large companies have silos, red tape, and you guessed it — more headaches. It’s a lose lose and I’m just gathering experience till I can find a meaningful role with equity where I’ll actually have some reason to feel like my work matters to me and not just the bottom line of a bunch of greedy pricks at the top

I’ve worked in both very small and very large companies. From my experience, bigger is better - improved pay, benefits, consistently talented coworkers, and more growth opportunities.

However, there are definitely trade offs. At big companies you will inevitably find others trying to take credit for your work and office politics can get very complex. Additionally, small companies are more nimble and you get to actually see the fruits of your labor. Like anything else “it depends” but I’ve found big companies more attractive personally

TBH I worked for wonderful big companies and wonderful small companies. I also worked for shitty big companies and shitty small companies. I think there has to be a better decision making matrix.

Pre-MBA, was in a high performing department of 100-200 people in a company of about 2,500 (we got many shoutouts during monthly newsletters, we were technically a back-office function that was arguably the "spine" of a lot of our operational capacities -- we had access to technology that very few other departments were allowed access to). We got priority for raises in 2021 vs. other departments. I got a ~12% raise and within a few months it got bumped to 25% to raise morale (our department was extremely overwhelmed at the time and senior executives personally took time to meet with our department so I guess we were viewed as a vital part of the team). I was paid well above market before I left my role to go back to school. Before the raises, I was probably slightly below market / at market.

EDIT: Eventual goal is to do something entrepreneurial. The autonomy is super hard to beat even if it's for a smaller paycheck. Granted, I come from an extended family where 40-50% of my relatives pivoted to entrepreneurial ventures by their late 30s. I get far more motivation speaking to one of my professors running a profitable niche ~$10+ million software company vs. a F100 executive who most of the time from experience, sounds like a total corporate drone / "yes man." My pre-MBA company was PE-backed / grew fast and ended up being a home-run for founders (bought by a public company), ironically got rejected by one of their competitors that I interviewed for during my MBA (whose done considerably worst in the past few years). So in that case, I guess being part of a healthy PE-backed company with high visibility can be a great experience.

As a minority, large companies, the only small company i worked for gave me hell because of my race by constantly saying i was not a team player, turning in work that wasn't mine and saying it was and other childish scheme from the jump. A few of my friends did not listen to this advice and got burned hard working for tiny companies.

The larger companies i've worked for have had similar things happen but there are too many checks and balances in place to keep me safe. For example an associate i was working with recently raised a complaint to my manager that I was turning incomplete work and he had to complete it himself, well it turns out that the systems he claimed to have completed on my behalf were only accessible to analysts so his claim didn't make sense.

Another instance was where someone I did not work with said i was unfriendly and did not fit into the culture during reviews but records showed that I was the analyst with the most attendance and participation for internal work events and programs.

I wish i could just do my job but you kinda sign up for this.

Startup life. 

BB. MF. Nuff said!

Company/industry dependent. In professional services you can have boutique firms that are phenomenal, being smaller isn’t a detriment and benefits can be wonderful, paired with flexibility. Most industries outside of that, bigger tends to be better. 

Middle market. I've been at multinational behemoths and startups with fewer than 10 people. Both come with a lot of headaches. Being at a middle market shop that's successful enough to have resources and connections, small enough to have personal visibility and minimal bureaucracy, and offers the opportunity to participate in upside and future growth is perfect

On the professional services side, the best is a sort of hybrid where you can be at a larger firm (500+) but be part of a smaller (100-150) somewhat ringfenced team within that company. Being in HC/LS, this happens quite a lot and works well.

On the corporate side, it strongly depends. If you're driven and want to work, a smaller company might be ideal. If you want to find a 6-figure job and be able to coast/hide behind mountains of paperwork to do nothing, F500 is the way. Again, a hybrid where you work within a highly-reputable and impactful small team within an F500 is great. This can provide great learning opportunities as well as exposure to key internal stakeholders. From my field, something like the gene therapy commercial excellence team at a Big Pharma with many gene therapies in the pipeline would be ideal.