Joined early stage startup. It was a thin AI wrapper.
The team was young and inexperienced but I wanted to believe in them. Too bad they did not want to believe in me. Laid off shortly after moving to San Francisco. First time I've ever had to break a lease. I also left the best job of my career to join them.
My advice to others; don't join startups before they've at least reach series B.
When you join a company that young there are other risks aside from the product itself. i.e Do they even know what roles they should be hiring for?
So many red flags that I missed:
- emphasis on being in office when all the other engineers worked remote from the other side of the world
- overly easy interview process
- fake customers (Founder had connections in those companies)
Hopefully someone else can learn from my mistake.
