You can surely find a new job at the worst in a few months and no well-paid engineer should be living without a few months' liquid savings anyway (emergency fund). So, every time people say startups are dangerous because they can go bankrupt, they're full of bullshit. Unless you live in rural US, or very inexperienced, there is no way in hell you'll burn all your emergency fund before finding a new job. Especially in tech heavens like SF, Boston, Seattle etc, it should be pretty easy to find a job even the day you're laid off. This is, unless tech industry collapses. Which I suppose is quite possible, but currently there is no evidence this is happening.