There are basically two tiers of startups in my mind, those that compete with FAANGs for talent (Airbnb, for a while Uber, whatever flavor of the month) and usu

There are basically two tiers of startups in my mind, those that compete with FAANGs for talent (Airbnb, for a while Uber, whatever flavor of the month) and usually are comprised of lots of ex FAANGs, and those that are second choices to FAANGs. Most of the people I know at the first tier also joined mostly for the money. Those in the second tier, it’s because that startup was the best opportunity they had. Or in some small cases, because it gave them experience in something they couldn’t get at other companies (eg a pure ML role).