What do you think? I haven't tried either, but working on cool problems ought to be worth something. Most startup work seems rather mundane.
The point is that at a startup (especially the two guys and a laptop variety) you do absolutely everything yourself, while at a big company you are supported by IT, QA, custodial services, etc, etc.
The interesting question is whether there exist jobs for which that support is worth the money and freedom one gives up working at the large company.
By enumerating what you want and comparing that with the support and restriction a steady job offers.
Money, freedom? I say risk.
There is less risk working in someone else`s company. If you take no risk then you will not have the potential to make more than in a startup. You also kiss your freedom away. Freedom. Thats a joke. For all those working for a company, tell me you really have the freedom to work, do what you want, when you want?
So if you want no risk, look forward to structured environments, other people telling you what to do and limit your ability to earn. Go work for the googles of the world [0].
Reference
[0] knowledge @ wharton, University of Pennsylvania, 'Perk Place: The Benefits Offered by Google and Others May Be Grand, but They're All Business'
There has been nothing more stressful for me than having this scenario happen - I just can't stand by and watch my efforts go to waste. (The Big company context for me was in the Architecture world, but you can substitute any profession you like in the above scenario) The best stress-reduction decision I have ever made was to start my own company. It was very difficult financially at first, but it was completely worth it.
Solving hard problems depends too much on creativity and research. I'm not sure I could do that under the pressure associated with a startup. The Google environment doesn't seem ideal either, come to think of it, but at least, I'm not the one absorbing the huge risk of failure.
Anybots is a startup that solved a hard problem, but it was self-funded, right? Would YC have funded them if it had been proposed by a 25-year-old Trevor Blackwell?
Uses some pretty advanced algorithms for planning seating arrangements.
Of course, the real challenge with a consumer product is usability, that intersection b/t your cool product and the folks with the wallets. But, that's where the money is. (Money isn't everything, of course).
Not a rhetorical question.
One reason to worry about how my site renders in Safari is that I know people use Safari and if my site doesn't work for them they won't use my site. There's a thrill that comes when people enthusiastically approve of your work. Also I know my site will be higher quality and more valuable if it renders in safari. The more valuable my site is, the more likely I will be able to make money off of it.
Come up with a list for the Google job, and see how it compares. For me personally, both sound good.
I'm not saying the job at Google with Peter Norvig (ah) is perfect. I was just pointing out another reason why I'm hesitant to make a startup.
If you're asking yourself wether to pursue a job at google or starting a startup, you'll want to try enumerating as many reasons as you can for each one. You won't likely get a definitive answer, but the excercise will get you thinking about what other things are important to you. If you're lucky, one will turn up to be the obvious choice.
In my case, I have slid technically to the point that preparing for one is the same as preparing for the other.
And for every hard problem at a "real" job, there's 10 annoying ones. I bet the startup ratio is probably similar, but they're YOUR problems (hard and annoying), not someone elses.
Then you can focus on the the challenging and rewarding problems without worry of dealing with the mundane. The difference will be that they are problems YOU want to work on, not what Google wants.