All companies have unique cultures. Just because a company is a startup doesn't inherently mean everyone works crazy hours, is under a huge amount of pressure,

All companies have unique cultures. Just because a company is a startup doesn't inherently mean everyone works crazy hours, is under a huge amount of pressure, or is forced to sacrifice work-life balance. That may be the case in some places, and at certain points in time those factors will apply. But more often than not I'm a 40 hr/week senior engineer who has time to spend with friends, practice violin, cook meals, etc. The lower pay isn't low - I'm making plenty for the Bay Area. The stress isn't too high - we have important customers with product expectations, so we test thoroughly before we release changes. I may not be in the weeds writing code every week because I need to wear the product and QA hats too, but overall I love being a high impact player on a team making an impact in a market I care about. Whether the company takes off or doesn't, I'm happier building something with minimum overhead and maximum flexibility.