Switch to Startup?

Do it. It's your chance to really hit it big. You have no real responsibilities other than yourself at your age. If you had kids and a wife/husband you wouldn't be able to take this risk. If it's as well-funded as you say, with big name people running the show, you will make great connections as long as you perform.

If you believe in the company go for it. But if you don't believe in it 100%, don't, you will burn out.

Agreed with the above, take the leap.

Absolutely go the startup route. Don't let any risk-averse luddites tell you otherwise.

It seems startups are the rage, true ways to get a great job. I wonder when the bubble bursts...

If you believe in the business model, then absolutely. However, you need to ask for a copy of the operating agreement and need to make sure you are getting a fair valuation in the company. Don't let them just tell you how many shares or whatever. You need to know your ownership stake and under what circumstances you can get diluted...this is very important. This should all be outlined in the operating agreement. I would spend a few thousand dollars to get a lawyer to review everything. If the company is successful, it could save you millions.

Awesome guys, thank you so much for the answers.

I just want to let you all know that I do not have enough stake in the company to actually become wealthy in the event that it was sold. I was actually granted a small amount of "Profit Interest Units", which are more like a dividend if the company is profitable. I should have made this more explicit, but I will not be making a shitload of money by any means if the company is sold because I do not have a large stake at all. The startup has close to 500 employees already (close to 100 in the states and around 500 IT/tech employees overseas). So please note that I am not even close to being one of the original few employees or anything, I am just the first junior level employee that they have hired on the business development team. I am starting in a support role and hoping that it will translate into something that generates revenue as long as I work my ass off, which I will.

I am looking at this as more of a career growth option, with financial reward being less important because I know that I am not going to strike it rich by joining this company. I am asking if you knew anything about junior level employees who join startups. I am looking to build a comfortable career at this company and hopefully translate the widespread knowledge that I have acquired into something better down the road, and I am wondering if you all have any knowledge about the potential salary growth for someone in the position I am in. Basically, do you see the financial loss/risk I will take to be more beneficial than the job I have now? Like I said, I have no interest in working in Ops, but some people have told me: "It's great to have a big name company on your resume, take the experience and move elsewhere in a few years". Unfortunately, they don't know how difficult this is, and I personally don't even know if "finance" is the correct career path for me. I just figured I would ask you all because I have been a longtime reader, and you are all knowledgeable about the professional world, finance or not.

Any more thoughts? And yes, I would never forgive myself if this company became wildly successful. It seems like the risk is worth it for that alone.

Thanks again.

Just out of curiosity, what domain is the startup in (business to busines or business to consumer) and what general kind of product is it (mobile, web, e-commerce, finance etc.)?

How long has the company been around? The company raised money at roughly what valuation?

There are 500 employees (I'm assuming a lot of those are contractors, is that true?) and there is no revenue. That is a red flag. However, the key is what you think of the business model. Obviously, it's hard for us to tell you whether or not the job/startup is a good idea since we have very little familiarity with the business model.

On paper, your profit interest units seem pretty worthless, since the vast majority of "successful" startups get acquired before they become hugely profitable and DON'T go to IPO - in which case you presumably don't get anything. (And this is even assuming they are a success)

On the career growth side, you should be directly/bluntly asking your potential future boss(es) questions about what your role entails and what potential you have to grow your responsibilities.

The start up is a business to business website. The company has been around for over a year and the reason that there is no revenue is that they are still developing it before releasing it. I'm not sure about the valuation either but I believe it is very high because of how many different types of people can use the product. I wish I could disclose more but I signed an NDA. As I previously said, the very well-known investors have put a lot of money towards it and the CEO is the former CEO of a company many of you use regularly.

The profit interest units are not worth much at all, they would be like a dividend and a very small one at that. Although it would be nice, I'm not going to get rich off of working here if they sold it. I'm just seeing what you all think about something like this and wondering if there will be as much of a hassle to move up in the company compared to my job now.

It seems like many of you recommend switching, but my main goal here was to figure out whether it was a better opportunity than working in Operations at a BB. Every single person in Ops is trying to move out into something in the FO and I'm thinking it may be better to do something different.

Another question actually. If I were to build great sales experience at this company would I be able to get into sales at a BB or into PWM. Do financial firms look at a great sales record as something that could translate into S&T, even if the experience came from a non-financial company. I feel as though getting sales experience somewhere else would still be more beneficial for me if I wanted to get into BB sales because my job now is not teaching me any relevant skills for this. What do you all think of this notion of mine?

Thanks again!

What keeps tripping me up is how you mentioned they have 500 employees, which in my personal opinion is a very very high (almost unheard of, possibly) number for a B2B website that has only been around for something over a year and has not released yet.

Like I mentioned earlier, maybe you can ask your potential bosses more about what kind of potential you have to expand your opportunities and take on more responsibility, especially if you are truly the first biz dev guy.