Andy Rachleff has advice about this: "go work for a big company and learn how the best of breed does it, then go start something when you know how and are ready." There are a few caveats to this:
1. Make sure you have a great manager who will help you learn, expose you to good experiences, and support you in your career
2. Join a company where you will be doing something where you learn a lot. Google is a mixed bag for this from what I understand.
I specifically didn't follow this advice. I graduated (from grad school) and started something immediately, but I do believe roughly in the mantra: "if you aren't sure if you want to do a startup, you probably don't want to do a startup."
My advice, if you go to a big company, though, is to extremely aggressively save. Live like you would on a startup paycheck (or less). If you get used to sweet benefits and a big paycheck, it will make it much harder to leave and start something.
1. Make sure you have a great manager who will help you learn, expose you to good experiences, and support you in your career 2. Join a company where you will be doing something where you learn a lot. Google is a mixed bag for this from what I understand.
I specifically didn't follow this advice. I graduated (from grad school) and started something immediately, but I do believe roughly in the mantra: "if you aren't sure if you want to do a startup, you probably don't want to do a startup."
My advice, if you go to a big company, though, is to extremely aggressively save. Live like you would on a startup paycheck (or less). If you get used to sweet benefits and a big paycheck, it will make it much harder to leave and start something.