Real question: what's your exit strategy for your startup? If the exit strategy is to get acquired, don't worry about it. You will make money and get to leave

Real question: what's your exit strategy for your startup? If the exit strategy is to get acquired, don't worry about it. You will make money and get to leave before the mess begins. If your goal is to go public, it's almost guaranteed that you will end up in this situation eventually. Most of the corporate insanity is driven by public company antics and having to show growth every quarter. The two examples I think of when I try to come up with "companies that don't suck" are Patagonia and REI. Both are private. In the case of Patagonia, the founder has spoken out against the quest for growth as it's a driver of so many bad things. I don't know much about REI but I'm sure if they went public quality would go downhill as well. You are either serving people or serving Wall St - in my experience it's not possible to serve both.