[_benj]

This hits home. I wish there was a way to gauge “retrospect” before actually suffering from it. I’m now usually quite weary of “we’ve had to get yet another loan of 60 mil, after 6 years in business because we don’t know how to make a profitable business” also known as a series C or whatever.

[billy99k]

I don't work full-time for startups, because of this. I was contracting for a startup last summer for about 6 months. They paid really well, but after researching the company, they were on their 3rd round of funding. The estimated yearly profits were a sliver of this, meaning they were burning through VC money hoping for an acquisition or somehow massively increasing profits. The product was also in a very crowded space with lots of competitors.

They had 3 other contractors working on the same functionality and they were all let go within a couple of weeks, because I could get it done 2X faster and without many integration issues.

I would have gladly kept working as a contractor, but when I refused a full-time work offer, they cut all contact off with me.

I would talk to the FTE frequently and they were always overworked and on multiple teams.

[steveBK123]

These are great because often the founder managed to take money out at one round of funding or another and is insulated from downside.