In social media, we often see posts about employment in top / popular companies getting celebrated and having lot of engagement. Whereas the posts about someone starting up does not elicit a similar response unless it is an announcement with funding details.
This seems ironic because there are more posts on startup progress from entrepreneurs and experts suggesting people to go and chase their dreams instead of being tied to a corporate job.
So why does this happen? What makes us congratulate one more over the other? Some things that I could think of that influences this preference.
Barrier
I think this plays a major role. What is the barrier one has to cross to land the opportunity? For an employment in a top or popular firm, the barrier is high. There is high competition, and multiple rounds one needs to do well to land the job. It is not a cakewalk by any means.
For starting up, the barrier is low. It takes conviction but with infrastructure and up front costs, it is easy to get started. The barriers comes later or at least most of the barriers comes later.
Status
General perception is any good job in the industry in seen to be better than starting up. There is no idea how a startup is doing financially but with a job everyone has an estimate how well someone might be getting paid.
External Validation
With a job there is an external validation that someone’s skill is worth so much. While starting up, there is no external validation, it is only a personal belief which is not tangible for outsiders.
Aversion to risk
Even the successful startups are celebrated only when there is perceived metrics. It could be vanity metrics but still only when there are significant numbers, they are deemed successful. The risk is appreciated only when people see the reward.
With a good job, comparatively there is less inherent risk, which society favours. Even well wishers worry when someone decides to startup and leave a high paying job.
Probability
Very less startups sustain for a period of time let alone succeed.Even the successful ones pivot at some point. The chances of a someone announcing a startup failing is much likely. Again the job announcement is the opposite, they have more chances of having a better carrier.
Results over intention
We appreciate the result than the intention. Intent is valuable for self. A good job is a result of hard work, while a startup is an intention to work hard.