My last co-founder kinda soured badly on steady corporate world. I plucked him from Yahoo (before Marissa) and did a startup for a couple of years. When we closed shop, he tried to go back to the corporate world (Disney/BigCommerce) and found them unsufferable. He got used to small, do whatever I want to do. He ended up at another startup, a little bigger, but still under 40 people. So, moral of the story is that some people won't go back to big corporate behemoths after doing a startup.<p>If you are a dev/eng/cs guy you'll land fast anywhere, non-dev startup work (marketing/PR/social/sales/support/fundraising) will require a lot of explaining and time. You'll get there.
"Failed" startup founder here.<p>For me, it's just a matter of what's more cost efficient. Statistically it's easier to get a job than funding. Very little of funding ends up in founders' pockets anyway.<p>Salaries and openings for developers have gone way up lately. Entrepreneurs need to chase the best opportunity and timing.<p>Also inevitably, you come across competition. Ideally you become best friends with your competitors. Because statistically, fail rate is high.<p>The best employee is very often someone who can build/sell something very effectively. The best employer is someone who views you as an equal, works on your vision, and admires your strengths. So competitors are often a perfect match.
To add on to what celticninja said, it's not just that it can be done, but is in fact quite common. Experience from running a startup can be a positive even if the company failed. Do you have a more specific question or any other information?
Absolutely. The hardest part is actually just re-adjusting to a non-startup workstyle. Like rejoining a 5K employee office from a 4-person startup comes with changes in workstyles, management, etc.