Warning Signs: Is It Time to Leave Your Startup? (opens in new tab)

Echoing a lot of the other sentiment here, I think a lot of these points are good, but some are pretty broad statements that apply to a lot of early stage tech. The paid acquisition one stands out in my mind - early stage SaaS or social gaming apps can successfully POUR money into paid acquisition for a long time and be successful.

Same can be said for the 'is the product of high quality' line. I don't think the first four iterations of my last product were of particularly high quality, but we were shipping things and it worked just enough to make users happy.

The one that stands out the most to me is the 'Would you be afraid to hire your smartest friends.' This is IMO the end-all gut check. If you wouldn't try to sell your best friend on leaving whatever they're doing to come join you, you don't believe in the company. If you don't believe in the company, find another one. There's plenty of work in SV.

http://c2.com/cgi/wiki?WarningSignsOfCorporateDoom

I recommend this list, which includes this important warning sign:

    Toilet paper quality suddenly drops.

This is surprisingly common. The obvious conclusion is that if someone is actually bothering to take the time to cut corners on such an insignificant expense, they probably cannot afford the larger expense of your next paycheck.

This is a very comprehensive list, thanks for putting it together. However, a lot of these strike me as things that an engineer normally wouldn't have access to (unit economics, etc). What would be your recommendation to folks who don't have deep insight into the business?

Interesting coming from a job hunting site, sort of a "hey look over there, MUCH greener grass!" :-) But they do a good job I think. There are lots of reasons you might start to wonder if your startup is more dead than alive. That said, it is always solid advice that if you hate going to work you should look for a new job. When ever someone who works for me asks "Should I be looking for a new job?" my answer is always "Of course you should be." Not because I want that person to leave, but because what we want out of job changes and by looking around you can understand what you like and don't like about your job. And if you talk to me about what you don't like, we can maybe fix that.

Excellent read! What if the startup has a lot of these warning signs, but the team I work with is top-notch, absolutely killer folks?

Would you suggest slugging it out till we figure out our own startup idea? Should I stay if I believe in the team, but not the management?

I'm unsure about a couple of these points but think the added perspectives of different people is pretty unique and useful. How did you organize software engineers?