Would you leave your current startup for a much higher-paying early-stage startup?
I’m a backend/data engineer in India with 3.5+ YOE and I’m currently evaluating a potentially big career move. Would really appreciate opinions from people who have worked at early-stage startups.
Current role:
- ~₹30L/year
- Remote (company transitioned from office → remote)
- Backend/data ownership: Go, Python, Kafka, AWS, ClickHouse, MongoDB, ETL, analytics/AI
- Around May, there was significant uncertainty around the company’s growth/product direction. I was actually advised to start looking for other opportunities.
- Later I was told things were stable with ~1.5 years of runway and appraisals would happen around July, but July has passed and appraisal is still delayed.
- Current engineering workload is quite low — mostly small maintenance work and very few major features/projects.
- Earlier, when the company was moving fast, the workload was quite intense, including weekend production work.
New opportunity:
- California/US-based, YC-backed early-stage startup hiring remotely in India/LATAM
- Currently just 2 people — CEO + CTO — and both actively code
- $6K–$7K/month + up to 0.05% equity + performance bonus
- Currently around $250K ARR, with customers managing $50M+ GMV
- ~18 months of runway
- Targeting $1M ARR within the next 6–12 months
- Considering another fundraise around Feb 2027
- Role is heavily focused on backend/data infrastructure: ingestion, normalization, enrichment, AI workflows and analytics
- Initially they expect around 6 days/week + PST overlap
- Founder was transparent that the culture is high velocity: they "work a lot and push a lot of code", although engineers are evaluated primarily on output rather than hours.
The new role is much more aligned with the direction I want to grow in, and financially it is more than 2x my current compensation.
My main concern is whether the additional compensation is worth the risk of joining a 2-person early-stage startup, especially with the expected work intensity.
If you were in my position, would you make the switch?
What would you specifically verify about the startup/founders/runway/business before making the decision?
Would especially appreciate perspectives from people who have made a similar jump from an established/relatively stable startup to a very early-stage company.