Should I join a startup?

As a student, I often dreamed about the days my internship will start so that I can get a chance to earn a good stipend and the things I would do with the money. I knew that the stipend would be limited but my wish list was endless.

When the internship interviews started, I was very excited. I appeared for various interviews and luckily got internship offers from two organizations. One was a very famous multi national bank and another was a startup (a small organization with only five employees that had just started up). The bank on one hand was offering a generous stipend while the startup had informed me I will get substantial learning but not any stipend.

I decided to talk to both the employers in detail about their expectations from me. The bank informed me that I would be required to do sales and it would majorly be out door. I didn’t have any problem with that as long as I get good learning experience. When I spoke to the startup, the CEO was very informative about the things I would be required to do. It was all about learning in almost every field possible. A little bit of marketing, a bit of HR, some of the administration and even a little R&D would be a part of my job. I was confused. On one hand was a brand name offering good money and on the other was a lesser known organization that had not even starting making considerable revenue yet.

I spoke to a few friends and family members. All of them suggested me to go with the much renowned bank. I had made my decision already. I just wanted to check what others think about it.

As you may have guessed, I picked the offer from the startup. The day I joined, I was given a detailed orientation by a colleague. They had set their expectations already and wanted me to perform. I had to work eight to nine hours every day. I was given a laptop and was expected to be very prompt on email. I had to take out time for my project report as well, that I did late nights and weekends. They made me work really hard, I was always busy. Moreover I did not get any money for putting my heart and soul into it. But what I got is priceless. I got the mentoring from senior people, I worked directly under geniuses and copied their working style. The energy, enthusiasm, clarity, vision and planning of those people was amazing.

My batch mates on the other hand had a fun time. Some of them went to their office twice a week, some even went home and stayed with their parents, some went on a vacation.

But when we met in the next semester class, I knew that I was the superior one. The one with more knowledge, more experience and a better chance of getting a good placement.