Actually, I just came from the same situation.

I applied for a job at company X, at Facebook, at Google, and I also applied to YC. After interviewing at company X, I thought this is the best job ever, I would love to do this.

I then got YC, so cancelled the Google and Facebook interviews. I told company X, who took it well. So well they offered me the job anyway---to take in the likely event of my startup failing. They also started my visa paperwork---an $8-15K expense---and said they'd just absorb the loss if my company worked out.

There isn't really a point to this, except that maybe you can have your cake and eat it. Also, if you find an amazing company, maybe they'll prove to be even more amazing than you thought.

Obviously you don't want to reveal what company X is, but just out of curiosity, how big a company is it? Taking on the visa process for a "possible" hire seems like something only a large-ish company could afford to do.

They're a technology company with 50-100 technical employees. As far as I know, they're rolling in money.

"A good plan, violently executed now, is better than a perfect plan next week."

I haven't been in this situation before but I think what George Patton said applies.

If it is your dream job why don't you accept the offer? If you don't like it, you can still start your own business after a year or later (I don't know how old you are).

If you like it, you can also start you own business, maybe a bit later, but with enough experience and an established partnership behind your back, if the two is not competing with each other.

Take it, and throw yourself into it for a year. Your business was a year away anyway, so it's worth discovering if it's your dream job. If it is your dream job, and the partnership materializes, go for it.

On the other hand, you may discover that your dream job isn't what you really thought it was. Then you can move on starting your own business with greater commitment, either full time or on the side.

You should also evaluate your reasons for wanting to start your own business. Being a partner in a business that you love could actually fulfill all or most of those goals, without some of the risks and downsides of entrepreneurship.

maybe i'm mis-reading, but isn't your dream job, by definition, one of your dreams? so shouldn't you always take your dream job no matter what?

could you give an example of a dream that you cannot pursue because you were taking your dream job? it seems like any reasonable non-work-related dream can be pursued while you are working at your dream job. or maybe not, i dunno, i'm confused.

I'm relativity young to give up on my dream job just yet, but I'm having some serious doubts I'll ever get it.

That being said, if it's your "dream job", and they can provide you with some safety, I say go for it. Use your free time to work on your own business.

If you ever get to a point where keeping the two is too much work, that will be a good sign, and you can choose between the two.

I'm not even sure I know what my dream job is yet. Right now I'm drifting between eventually (or soon) doing a startup and something totally unrelated.

I'm curious, at what age did other HNers feel that they had figured out what they wanted to do job-wise (even if they weren't doing it yet)?

I chose following my dream. To me, it was 100% worth it.

"Happy those who dream dreams and are whiling to pay the price to make them come true." (From an old skydiving movie)

I think the answer to a conundrum like this is very personal and tells you a lot about what you value more.

Can you pursue your dream job on the side, on weekends?

Also, what kind of a place interviews on Christmas day?

I wasn't asking for advice, just wondering if any HNers had been in a similar situation.

We don't have the Christmas holiday (I'm Turkish) although we have other holidays to more than make up for it.

Temptation certainly seems to creep up at the most inconvenient moments.