Startup vs Brand Name - Best Time To Start Your Own Venture

A lot of college seniors are probably wondering if they should join a startup or start their own venture right out of college. A common alternative to this is to join a big tech or brand-name firm. What's the right decision?

A quick glance at my LinkedIn will make it quite obvious which side I belong to. However, before I go on, I do concede:

1. No one's childhood dream is to climb the corporate ladder and fulfill someone else's vision. There is something undeniably enticing about starting something of your own - being Zuckerberg 2.0.
2. Right after graduation is probably the best time to fail - you still have the energy and resilience of a college student (all-nighters, eating Ramen every day, sleeping on the floor, etc.) and likely no one else is dependent on you, financially or otherwise.?
3. It is never early to start building a network - breaking into the entrepreneurs' circles early and establishing yourself among VCs is truly an invaluable asset.?

The list can go on and on but you get the point: there are unique advantages to cozying up to the startup world right out of college. So why not do it?

Some context: my first internship was at a successful startup. I started ventures like Virtual Event and Magic Connects during college. Each product had thousands of users across the world with positive cash flow. Wharton professors wanted to invest in them and it seemed like this was the right path. But…next month, I joined Facebook. Why???

1. The opportunity cost was enormous. Hard to let go of a 6-figure salary right out of college. The expected value of starting a venture would never outcompete a big tech salary: this is not just your base salary; every $25,000 you put into your 401k in the beginning years of your career becomes a million dollars when you retire! Every year I would spend on establishing a successful venture, I was robbing my future self of a million dollars!
2. I needed a lot of learning - opportunities to make mistakes. Brand name firms provide you with an environment where you can develop yourself and learn from the best people across the world. Mistakes at work are learning opportunities while mistakes at your startup could be irreversible setbacks. FANG for tech, CVS or Pfizer for healthcare,? Block or Stripe for payments, Citadel for securities - join the best firm out there in your industry and learn as much as you can.?
3. You are most likely to fail at the early stage of your career. You have no mentors, no resources, or professional intuition to depend on yet. Having some professional experience can help all three. Even though you may have more responsibilities later in your life, you can easily hedge and prepare for them as you will have more resources at your disposal. Worst case, it gives you time to garner the maturity you need to develop a successful venture.???

Yes, start something of your own. But do that at the right time when you have enough resources, learnings, intuition, and network to maximize the chances of your success. Use your professional life as a stepping stone to fulfill your dreams.?