Is Joining Startup really a RISK?

The single biggest factor that comes into being when you ask people to join a startup is - RISK! In my last one year I have faced this question both from people around me and from people whom I talked while trying to set up a team for my venture.

Weather its fresh graduates from IIT's, NIT's or people working in big corporates - people are a lot worried about their career. I myself failed to understand what people actually meant by a career? Is it the renumeration, is it that you can say to someone that I am working for a big corporate like IBM or Microsoft or what else do they mean by career?

I believe people don't themselves understand by the term "career". They look from a short term perspective and haven't ever thought what they want to do in long term. A person makes his own destiny and its the journey, the path that should be more exiciting then the end result.

When I am faced with this question, what made you jump into this? Why did you take such a big risk? My answer is I think there is NO risk at all. And if any to the minimum. My perspective to this question is "What's the worst situation I can be in ?" May be I loose out on money, spent months on something which didn't work, may be at the end I don't have a job. I can't think of a more worse situation, if you can please do let me know..

On the other hand, any one who joins a startup will have steep learning curves both in technology and management, see how small startups need to work, how product has to be conceptualized, developed, deployed. Everyone in the team works for that. One enjoys the journey which might be bitter at times. Experience and the work that one learns, I think a corporate environment lacks that dynamism. So you can learn in 6 months what you will do in an year or even two within a big company.

So Where's the loss?
If startup worked, you would reach a prominent position. Will gain all the attention. Even if it didn't work, you will be more bold than before, will have more experience than others, will rise ahead from your peers. And getting job is never a problem, atleast the way current job market is moving in India.

So where's the Risk? I think its just no risk at all, spending a part of your life doing interesting stuff.

I remember once I was talking to this American lady in front of me, standing at the luggage check in queue at the IGI Airport. She was I guess a teacher and a painter by profession. She said you Indians are a lot lucky, you have such a strong family background especially financial stability provided by family networks. There in america, once you are 18 you are independent and you have to think all by yourself. She told me about an indian guy in america whose mother had come to US and used to prepare all meals, bedding etc. for the guy, while the guy studied hard for his exams. Americans, she said are a lot insecure.

My response was, although Indians have strong family traditions but the same traditions make them less matured and mentally weaker. My personal belief is people in US or Europe are mentally more stronger than Indians and take more risks. On the contrary, the strong family background should have made Indians taking more risks! It might be I am just looking at a small spectrum of people, but that's what I got when talking to engineers in my last 1 year.

I would just like to give this message, do innovative work wherever you go. Even if its not your own startup, join a startup so that when you do your own startup, you don't make the same mistakes. So its everything to gain and nothing to loose.