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Comment by bradfa | Hacker News Reader

You talk of startups like they're only run by 20-something brogrammers. Find a small company that isn't, then work there. Find a company with a CEO / founder who's in their 30s, 40s, or 50s and has a family. There's tons out there. You'll find a better work/life balance and less foosball.

Don't be the first hire, be the 10th, after they've established themselves but are still small enough that it has that startup vibe. Don't expect stock options but the pay should be market rate by then.

At small companies, you ship. Or you go out of business. You also probably won't read about 99% of them on HN. Ignore HN (except for the who's hiring) and get to work building something awesome!

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In the last year I left BigCo for the kind of company you describe. It's been mostly a positive experience so far. I've gone to a lot less meetings and learned a ton about technologies I never would have touched at my BigCo job.

At small companies, you ship. Or you go out of business.

This is important to keep in mind mainly because many people have a hard time with that sort of stress. Small companies, even profitable ones, have small margins of error. The upside is that in a small company you should have a lot more contribution to the success or failure.

I couldn't agree more. I am 20-something and have always worked for startups with older founders - I actually respected them and always learned a lot.

Meanwhile, the atmosphere in some of the incubators is little better than a frat boy club house. Not really a work environment.

This.

Many people seem to have this Platonic form in their head for "start-up", complete with brogrammers, X-box, and 70-hour work weeks (okay, perhaps a bit of an exaggeration, but you get this gist -- there are certain aspects with lots of hype right now). While those do companies exist and some of them are now in the spotlight, they are not actually a majority. Don't be fooled by that myth about start-ups. There are plenty of really good young, small start-ups in between that and big co, including some that are still small but already established in their niche, and these seem to be the sweet spot you're looking for.

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