Is the team culture 'working until burnout' or 'embracing the "lying flat" mindset'?

This question is so real, it's basically a dilemma for everyone who wants to join a startup. To be honest, it's not black and white, not as simple as "either work yourself to death or lie flat." Let me break it down for you in plain language.

First, you need to look at what stage the company is in.

1. The "Garage Stage" (1-20 people): At this stage, it's basically a "work until you're bald" mode, and usually, everyone does it voluntarily. Why?

• To survive: Money is raised, and every day it's burned is one less day. Products need to be developed quickly, launched to the market, and gain users and revenue, otherwise, everyone goes down together. It's like a war; a slow step might mean losing your position.
• Everyone is core: The company only has a few key players. If your part fails, the entire product might get stuck. The sense of responsibility and involvement is extremely strong; you'll feel like the company is "yours."
• Dreams and stock options: Early employees usually have stock options. Everyone is striving not just for salary, but for a big return when the company goes public or is acquired in the future. This is betting today's hard work on an uncertain future.

At this stage, if you have a "lie flat if you can" mentality, you definitely won't last. You'll be miserable, and the team won't tolerate you. But conversely, this kind of "comradeship" and the sense of accomplishment from creating something with your own hands is hard to experience in a large company.

2. The "Expansion Stage" (dozens to hundreds of people): The company has survived, the product has been market-validated, and it's starting to expand rapidly. At this point, the culture begins to become more complex.

• "Workaholics" and "old hands" coexist: Some people have been with the company through tough times and are used to working hard; others are new hires, some of whom might just want a "seemingly glamorous" startup as a stepping stone. Cultural conflicts begin to emerge.
• Overtime starts to change: Before, overtime was for "survival"; now, it might become "overtime for the sake of overtime." For example, if the boss hasn't left, everyone stays; or because of irregular processes and inefficient communication, work can't be finished during the day and has to be done at night. This kind of "ineffective overtime" is the most draining.
• Beginning to emphasize "balance": Some smart companies at this stage realize that continuous "high pressure" will drive away excellent talent. They will start to establish formal processes, emphasize efficiency over hours, and strive to help everyone find a rhythm between "sprinting" and "resting."

At this stage, you have choices. You can choose to join a core business team, push forward with them, and grow rapidly; or you can choose a relatively mature support department, where the work pace might be more normal. The key is to ask clearly during the interview what the specific working conditions for your position are.

3. The "Mature Stage" (hundreds of people or more): At this point, it's actually less like a traditional "startup" and more like a medium-sized or large company.

• "Lying flat" becomes possible: There are more departments and more layers, and processes become complex but standardized. As long as you complete your KPIs on time, no one will constantly monitor you. In some non-core, peripheral departments, "lying flat" is entirely achievable.
• Bureaucracy emerges: Big company diseases begin to appear: endless meetings, endless documents, extremely high cross-departmental communication costs. At this point, you might feel that although you don't work much overtime, you're mentally exhausted.
• Culture is diluted: When a company gets big, its culture becomes slogans on the wall. What truly drives you is your direct supervisor and the small atmosphere of your team. Some teams are still in battle mode, while others have already settled into a peaceful routine.

Here's a summary of my advice for you:

• Don't believe what HR says; look at the reality. During the interview, don't directly ask, "Do you work overtime?" No one will tell you the truth. You can ask more subtly, for example: "What time does the team usually leave work?" "Do you need to handle work on weekends?" "What was the team's work pace like during the most recent project launch?"
• Observe the office. If you have the chance to interview on-site, check how many people are still in the office around 6 or 7 PM, and whether they are enthusiastically discussing problems or idly scrolling on their phones to pass the time. Their mental state won't lie.
• Figure out what you want. If you're young, want to learn and grow quickly, and earn big money in the future, then find a reliable early-stage company and be prepared to "go bald." If you seek work-life balance and stability, then either find a large "startup" in its mature phase or simply go to a big tech company.
• The most dangerous are "fake striving" companies. These are companies that have adopted all the ailments of big companies—bloated processes, low efficiency—yet demand employees work as hard as in a startup, without offering corresponding rewards (stock options or bonuses). Run from such companies.

So, there's no single answer. Startup culture is a spectrum, ranging from "working to death" at one end to "easygoing" at the other. Your task, through interviewing and observation, is to find the point that best matches your current life stage and personal aspirations.