How to Properly Evaluate a Startup

This 60-minute coaching session gives you a practical framework for evaluating whether a startup is actually a strong career opportunity — beyond the pitch, brand name, or headline valuation. We’ll walk through the key areas you should investigate before accepting an offer, including: - **Business health:** Revenue, ARR growth, burn rate, runway, fundraising history, valuation, customer concentration, margins, and other metrics worth asking the recruiter or hiring manager about. - **Funding and equity:** How to evaluate the company’s funding history, investors, current stage, valuation, and what those factors may mean for your equity. - **Founders and leadership:** How to research the founders, executives, board, previous companies, track record, and leadership reputation. - **Team quality and employee signals:** How to use LinkedIn to understand employee tenure, hiring velocity, leadership turnover, layoffs, and where people go after leaving. - **External research:** How to intelligently use sources like Glassdoor, Blind, Reddit, LinkedIn, Crunchbase, press coverage, and customer feedback without taking any one source at face value. - **Product and market:** How to assess product differentiation, competitive positioning, customer demand, market size, and whether the company has real momentum or mostly hype. - **Startup red flags:** Common warning signs around culture, finances, leadership, hiring, product-market fit, compensation, and unrealistic growth narratives. - **Your specific opportunity:** We can apply the framework directly to a startup or offer you are currently considering and identify the most important questions to ask before making a decision. The goal is to help you perform the kind of diligence on a startup that an investor might — while also evaluating whether it is the right career bet for you.