[theorique]

Thanks!

I don't mind the presence of "beer culture" so much as long as it's in addition to ridiculously high compensation, and not a sleight of hand to distract people and then underpay them relative to norms ("Look! We're a STARTUP! We have video games! And BEER!")

My attitude is: show me the money ... then we can talk culture. ;)

[tehwalrus]

The company wasn't really a startup anymore, since it was a services business with like 40 employees (now they have even more than that.) They paid quite well, but not well enough to compensate for the poor culture!

With respect to money, I think I'd have to be very well paid to get me to work for a company without a cool mission now (and, conversely, I'd happily get paid less to be doing something I believed in - hence taking a big pay cut to do a PhD..)

[theorique]

I hear that. It's nice to have both (money / culture), and certainly one can be traded for the other. Few people go into investment banking or corporate law for the culture (although the culture certainly teaches them that they are "the best") - they are in it for money.

The thing I don't like is when people are misled about the bargain - hearing "we're not about money, we're changing the world, you need to work 18h a day" from someone who will benefit exponentially more from a successful outcome than the slave he's whipping.