If you think they're lottery tickets - pick a better startup. Seriously. You shouldn't be joining startups unless you think they have a chance of liquidation for you.
If you really do think they're worthless THEN JOIN FAANG.
If you really do think they're worthless THEN JOIN FAANG.
That "carpool as a service" startup might have had a great business strategy up until a pandemic showed up. And if you're spending 8-10 years waiting for a payoff, you only get ~3 shots to pick correctly.
Your lottery ticket remains whether you are working there or not. The only reason not to leave after 4 years is if you are a founder or the company is giving you extremely generous compensation.
I sometimes feel like no one on HN actually enjoys what they do. It's strange.
The worst thing you can do is spend too long at a loser company when you are early in your career. And it often is hard to tell when you don’t have a lot of experience. That’s why rules like “don’t spend more than 4 years at a company” and “don’t put all your eggs in one basket” are good general roles even if you like the company/job. Because you might like the other job just as much and make 10x the compensation if the lottery ticket hits. I have many friends that hopped from jobs they liked to Airbnb circa 2017-2019 and… they are all very happy they decided to get another lottery ticket.
When you are later in your career it’s much easier to pick jobs and companies you want to work for because you know what you want and you now what questions to ask before you join.
If the company is growing so slowly that you could get a meaningful refresher grant, then you should move to another company that is growing faster.
I would wish you the best of luck, but sounds like you don't need it.
For every one person who got lucky and think it was because they chose well, there are nine you never hear about.
I wouldn’t want to spend years of my life on a 1 out of 10 chance.