By the way, joining for the experience at a manageable salary is not necessarily a bad thing. The work and atmosphere at a startup will always be different tha

By the way, joining for the experience at a manageable salary is not necessarily a bad thing. The work and atmosphere at a startup will always be different than BigCo, and may well be better. The trick is to not get conned down in salary too much. Most startups if they've raised an A or further, should not be able to talk you down from market rate. If they do you can do the smart thing, walk.