Clearly there are pluses & minuses to each path. But if a young student is interested in doing a startup, he/she should definitely try (while young).<p>It is no less of a "real world" experience than it would be if you worked at Google. In fact, it might be more "real" because you have to deal with <i>everything</i> from coding to tech support to marketing to taxes (and if you do well enough, payroll).