[pm90]

There are still companies that build good products and focus on core engineering. Maybe not (all) startups, but despite the preponderance of every kind of startup, there are still many who at their core are solving difficult engineering problems.

Of course, reality gets in the way and they often have to cut corners every now and then.

[scarface74]

That may be the case, but if they take outside funding, their primary focus is by definition not to be a “lifestyle company”, but to have an exit strategy. Statistically, that exit strategy is to get acquired.

Your investors don’t care about how well architected your code is or the amount of automated test coverage you have.