It depends on the startup - my company was founded by serial entrepreneurs who created companies that sold for big acquisitions, but the founders still took on

It depends on the startup - my company was founded by serial entrepreneurs who created companies that sold for big acquisitions, but the founders still took on VC money a little later. By the time I joined mine, the founders left - I don't presume the reasons, but the company is currently headed by a CEO with a passion in the space and the founders as advisors & board members. The company feels like any other startup I've been at, high pressure with products that at one point were dangerously close to failing without some herculean efforts to reverse technical debt, create a pathway to scalability, and timely releases of new products/features despite waterfall planning. I have found that engineering gets the shaft, just like at most other companies. True leadership is appallingly missing, and heedlessly put companies at risk...but I digress.