Start ups are fun and exciting to most people because they see it as an opportunity to grow with the company and move up quickly. But start ups can definitely have their down sides.
Salary can be low, lots of work, long hours, lots of promised promotions that don't go through, disorganization, and if the company gets bought out you can be left hanging while only the founders make a pretty penny.
There are also a lot of upsides to them too if everything or most things go to plan you can end up growing exponentially in your career.
Do you think they are worth it?
It's so fucking dumb to work for a startup unless you own real equity with real upside. Seriously. Don't do it unless you're getting LIQUID equity with actual upside. Key word being LIQUID.
This is coming from a bonafide startup whore.
I think people mistakenly bucket startup and corporate based on pay, future payout, and stability. Yes these matter but what makes or breaks your experience is the quality of TEAM and the quality of your ROLE.
As many of you on here should know, even the perfect job can be ruined by a bad boss or a team that is uninvested in their work. To me, working with people that align with you and have a shared common end goal is bar none the most important factor in workplace satisfaction. Micromanagers exist whether it's your startup's insane CEO or your bathshit crazy BB MD and they can both fuck up your life no matter how amazing or life changing your work is.
Your role matters a lot to. Are you going to be silo-ed into a particular function? Are you expected to wear many hats? Can you deal with ambiguity? I know MD's in ER who let their Associate essentially build out their own franchise under them and have complete freedom to handle clients. In contrast, there's startups where management wants everyone to just do what they're told. Be VERY aware of the expectations that your role entails.
At the end of the day, look at the people you're working with and HONESTLY answer to yourself whether you'd enjoy being around them day in and day out. If I could be around people I loved to work with and I felt a sense of belonging and a higher purpose and had a support group that stuck with me, I'd gladly take a pay cut and no equity just for that (to an extent)