Exactly. Part of the interview is explaining when and why these techniques are necessary as part of demonstrating your understanding.

If the candidate gives non-answers like “I don’t think it matters because you’re a startup” or “I’d just use whatever database I’m comfortable with” that’s not demonstrating knowledge at all. That’s dismissing the question in a way that leaves the interviewer thinking you don’t have that knowledge, or you don’t take their problems seriously enough to put thought into them. There is a type of candidate who applies to startups because they think nothing matters and they can YOLO anything together for a few years before moving on to the next job, and those are just as bad as the super over-engineering candidates.

The interview is your chance to show you know the topics and when to apply them, not the time to argue that the startup shouldn’t care about such matters.