[mikesabat]

The biggest issue is whom you choose to interview with. The worst case scenario is a false positive = you get hired and it is a bad match/you don't like the job. This isn't a corpo job where you can hide or distract yourself all day.

So with that in mind be very honest and only look at projects/companies that you are genuinely interested in. Don't reach for any position.

Make sure you like the co-workers and do some research on the product and the market.

[joshuaxls]

Building on the last line of parent's comment, you should also research your co-workers ahead of time. Spend an hour or two googling the company, their email addresses, screen names, etc. If you're decent with Google, you'll find a lot. You should be able to get some idea of who you'll be talking with and working with ahead of time, which, in my case, helped me to be more confident during the interviews.

Anecdote: I recently came home from an interview at a startup, one which shall go unnamed, and decided to do more googling of their employees. I found that they had been taking parts of my cover letter, which was admittedly eccentric, and Twittering them amongst themselves, mocking me. How embarrassing, more so since I had just been in interviewing with them. Jerks.

[dangrover]

I second this. When startup jobs are bad, they're really bad.

(good corporate job - bad corporate job) < (good startup job - bad startup job)