[jewjitsu]

I currently work at a mature start up that is doing very well. I previously worked at another start up that had a lot of success initially but didn't evolve with it's competition and ultimately went belly up. If you are looking at going into an early stage startup, it is especially important that you really believe in their product or the problem that they are offering a solution to. Like others have said, it's the founders and early team members that really stand to cash out on stock options. Later employee's may make some money but it won't be never-work-again money. So if your jumping into an early startup, make sure it's worth your time investment. Culturally most startups tend to be work-hard-play-hard kind of places, which sounds nice but has a definite down side.

For me these are the main pro's and con's of the start up world.

Pros
- Good Compensation w/ chance of stock options
- Lots of free food, drinks, and parties
- Flexible work environment ( nobody checking when you come or go as long as your work gets done )
- opportunity to advance, implement ideas regardless of seniority

Cons
- The majority of the staff, especially on the engineering side, consists of nerdy white, asian, and Indian dudes and that will likely be the same at most conferences and industry events.
- The company can go belly up or majorly downsize at anytime + general boom/bust cycle in the tech industry
- When things get busy you'll be expected to put in whatever time is necessary to get stuff done - downside of work-hard-play-hard
- You can chase stock options that end up being worth nothing or of low value