I think it’s hard for a lot of people to imagine what it really looks like, what it really takes to go from an idea on a piece of paper to a profitable business with real people, real equipment, investors, a product, etc. More difficult yet, what does it look like to start your company? What does it feel like?

It’s the vision that’s tough. It’s hard to see all of the steps from beginning to end. You run into what some might call ‘project friction’ where, if only you knew all of the steps to get to your goal, you could get going and do something about it. Building a business, though, is a hard thing to explain on paper.

One of the best ways to see how it’s really done (as I mentioned in my SA to SV post) is to join a startup. That’s why I joined a startup, and it’s more important than any of the 9 reasons below. I wanted to see what motivated people to work for a dream and a prayer. I wanted to see how someone ran a company going through rapid change. I wanted to see what I’d do similarly and what I’d do different.

In Dave’s first post to Enter Venture, he really touched upon the inherent risk in every job. There is no such thing as a safe job (except for the few people in this country remaining in unions). Why not find the environment that suits you best? It may be a startup. It may not.

Personally, I think you’d be crazy not to even consider joining a startup. Here’s why I like my startup job so far:

1. Lack of structure – If there’s anything startups have, it’s potential. You can be anything and everything. You’re just going to have to figure out what that is, and as a startup employee, how to make it happen. No one’s going to tell you what to do.

2. Free food - Google’s cafeteria stories have created an industry standard among startups where you HAVE to offer free food. Hell, you’re probably not getting paid too much so the founders have to at least make sure you’re eating. (Full disclosure: I like free food — a lot).

3. Casual everything - I spent the previous year wearing a suit everyday. Now, I wear a t-shirt and jeans and play with the office dog in my spare time. ’nuff said.

4. Building something new – I’m going to defer to a comment I once heard from another Columbia alum. ‘There once was a guy named Goldman. There once was a guy named Sachs.’ You can build the next big thing a lot easier as long as you’re not working for the old, next big thing.

5. Like-minded, entrepreneurial people all around you - People in startups tend to come from all kinds of backgrounds, but they have one thing in common, they want what you want. If you’re like me, it’s the other 8 things in this list.

6. Define what you get paid… sorta – At a corporation, your pay represents your years experience, your peers, your role in the company, blah blah. At a startup, you can be a part of defining the success of the company and, therefore, the success of all those options you’re holding onto. You’ll still get paid more as an engineer over an office manager, but damnt, if the office manager figures out your business model, he’s going to do pretty well for himself too.

7. Work with people, not people playing the role of Manager/Executive/Director/[insert title of someone above you here] - The problem with highly structured organizations is that people are often put in roles where they actually believe in the titles they’re given. They feel like they have to live up to it and act the part. It’s hard to act superior in a startup, especially if you show up to work in your PJs.

8. Barely a meeting to be had – Every company has external meetings. The problem with internal meetings, though, is that they’re only useful for a few people. Everyone else uses them for doodling and quality ceiling-staring time. There are better things you can be doing for your startup than polishing your doodling skills.

9. Work on the most important stuff, all the time - There are always a million things to do. On any given day, you can only do those things that are the most important. Whoever liked doing the bullshit work, anyways?

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