Which job to take?
brk: You will find that the greatest accomplishments in the world are often built upon solid foundations.It's perfectly possible to go from college into a startup (or to skip the college part), but in general you will do better (and contribute more) in a startup when you have some experience in a large company.  You may not want to retire from IBM, but it's good to see the good and bad bits about how a large organization is run.The IBM job may or may not be there in another 5 years.  There will always be some startup opportunity available.