Working with Ice Coffee
This is reason #1 why working for a startup is kind of like iced coffee: it’s not for everyone. Working in a true entrepreneurial environment takes someone who’s willing to steer a little bit off the beaten path. The tried and true taste you get with a regular cup of coffee is, in this analogy, the "taste" you get from a bigger, corporate environment. And that’s the thing - there’s lots of people who want to think that they’d really like iced coffee or like the idea of trying a change of pace. But to really enjoy working for a startup, it takes a commitment to the craft. It’s very certainly not a one-time or "try it out" sort of thing. Two sips into your first iced coffee and you may find yourself wishing you’d stuck with the ordinary.
That’s where we get to reason #2: with iced coffee, the ice melts. Even if you’re bought in up front, over time, the ice melts, and the drink you think you ordered just isn’t the same. Now I suppose you could say that traditional java has a corresponding fate - that of losing its warmth - we’ve all grown accustomed to topping off our cups with a little fresh coffee to get it back to normal taste. In a startup, you constantly have to gauge whether there’s optimal "ice" in the drink or whether you need to go back and reconfigure things. I think of this in terms of startups that are struggling to find their legs and finding that the initial thesis of their iced coffee vision is not exactly working. The pining for the old cup of joe is a real danger. (Source)