I worked at startups back in the day and am now at a MediumCo and pretty happy with the situation, though missing out on the SV gold rush. I do think sometimes

I worked at startups back in the day and am now at a MediumCo and pretty happy with the situation, though missing out on the SV gold rush. I do think sometimes about returning to that world but I would need at a minimum: * At least equal total compensation and benefits beyond the stock options. * Reasonable compensation for the loss of job security. * Support for my work-life balance, i.e. for my nonstandard schedule and geography requirements. Given those things, what would motivate me to go to a startup? * Solving a problem I care about, i.e. not selling ads or throwing elections or increasing device addiction. * Serious, grown-up founders and leaders: no Boy Wonders, no Tech Bros, etc. * Using technologies I respect. I don't know how helpful that is to your overall goal, but it might be interesting as an "older" guy's perspective (mid-40's). I sort of doubt I'll get involved in startups again but if I do, I strongly suspect it'll be either as a technical founder or as the technical founder's VP of E. For people like me, the "YC Consulting" model proposed in another comment could be pretty attractive. I guess it might already exist at e.g. Google (Ventures).