[svigraham]

It is not about the pay when you work at a startup. You have to ask yourself if you believe in what they are doing and if it aligns with what you feel your time's worth is. The pay is always going to be lesser than what you get outside, but if you like them, they are honest/fair, and you believe in that idea...those can be your metrics. :) my 2c.

[rick888]

If you are an employee, it needs to be about the money. When the company gets purchased for millions of dollars (unless you have major equity), how much money are you going to get?

Many startups use this excuse so they can pay employees peanuts, when they are working 70-80 hour weeks to launch a product that will make the founders rich.

This is why I don't work at statups, unless I started it myself.

[anon_koder]

I was bothered about pay because there are other startups around doing same service and giving a higher pay.