All startups are: 1. going to give you the same super optimistic answers about funding and runway because they usually start posting jobs when either they just

All startups are: 1. going to give you the same super optimistic answers about funding and runway because they usually start posting jobs when either they just got more funding or they are about get more funding and everything is wonderful according to them. They're not going to tell you "Dude, we're really screwed. We have about 3 months left! You still wanna job here?" 2. some will not hire you just for asking because they prefer employees who can take the risk To find out what their true health is, ask them: 1. How many paying customers did you have last year? 2. How many paying customers did you add this year? 3. How many paying customers canceled, or what's your cancellation rate? A good answer indicates healthy year-over-year growth with a low cancellation rate that speaks to good customer retention and customer satisfaction. Especially in a subscription business retaining customers is critical. If the company has less than 20 people are the answer is "I don't know" or "0" or "1" or "We weren't in business last year" or "We don't charge any customers yet." then it's has approx 50:50 odds of surviving another year.