Ask HN: How should I evaluate a startup as I job hunt?

I've been a lurker at HN for a while and it has greatly motivated me to seriously consider joining a startup. I have been at one of the large software companies for almost a year now (first job after college, good CS school) and I've decided to change jobs before I get too comfortable here.

Given the large number of interesting startups, what kind of questions should I be asking, not only the engineers / founders of the startup, but also myself? What are the signs of a healthy startup (funding, background of the founders)? How do I gauge the core principles and culture of a startup?

I apologize in advance if some of these questions don't make sense or may even be irrelevant in the pursuit of finding a job at a startup. I also realize different people will have differing opinions about how to evaluate a startup. That would be particularly helpful.

Most of the links I came across while searching on google were about investors evaluating startups. I didn't find many opinions on how to evaluate a startup from a job-seeker's perspective.

Thanks in advance

Here are a handful off the top of my head:

  - Are you profitable? If so, for how long?
  - How long until you need another round of funding?
  - Are you planning on hiring more staff? If so, for what positions?
  - How do you gauge promotions/raises?
  - Who will my coworkers be?
  - What is the office setup like?
  - What hours will I be working?
  - How much time is spent on maintenance vs. new development?
  - Is your code unit tested, and do you have version control?
  - Who do I report to?
  - Is there a vision for where the company will be in # years?
  - Ignoring equity, is my compensation fair?
  - How fast is the company growing? What are some recent milestones?
  - Is the office located in a place that's easily accessible?
  - What will I be working on after my first month here?
  - How often do you have meetings?
  - How do you manage deadlines?
  - How long have you (the interviewer) been at the company?
  - What attracted you (the interviewer) to the company?
  - Why did you choose the current technology stack you're using?
  - Are you having any issues with stack?
  - How much of the code is understood by >1 person?

Is this the sort of list you're looking for?

In my opinion you should choose the one you most like, the one where you really believe in the idea.

The most important point in an startup is the team, the idea can be marvelous but without the perfect team... it's just shit

Think hard about your appetite for risk. As companies scale up the work and character and risk profile changes, roughly with each order of magnitude of employees. The same company a year and 10 people later may suit you better.

I highly recommend looking for any dissonance between the ground-floor workers and management/leadership.

The best scenario you can find (a truly rare gem of an employer), whether startup or established company, is where everyone is on the same page. Vision should be clear, strengths should be accurately gauged, and problems should be acknowledged and well-understood. You should be able to share what you've learned from the workers with management (and vice versa) without any looks of shock, fear, or panic. Overall visible stress should be almost non-existant.

The worst scenario is where the company's leadership lives in its own reality and blames any issues on workers or outsiders. Run from these employers; no amount of money is worth working for such people. The easiest way to test for this case is to just talk openly about what you've learned about the company and how the future looks given their strengths and weaknesses. Watch out, in particular, for the hushed phrase "I shouldn't tell you this, but..."

Realistically, though, you'll find a lot of employers somewhere in between. Just know that the distance between the reality of leadership and worker is going to be proportional to the pain you'll feel working at that employer and that such distance tends to increase over time.