[efriese]

Livelihood encompasses more than just financial. If it were just money most people could get by. The stress on a person and their family while job hunting, especially at the CTO level, can be pretty huge. I would much rather have some runway to find the gig I want rather worry about my reputation.

[gwbas1c]

I get the impression that this is a young guy. CTO of a startup means something different than CTO of an established company.

Most likely, it's a bunch of recent college grads working on someone's pipe dream, but there's no real leadership that would translate to a company.