A employee-director or employee-founder relationship is somewhat similar. Yet, the gut feel check is not as prevalent. Instead, the project or work typically carries more weight.

Or maybe it was just me who was doing this wrong...

7/

The gut feel criteria is pretty widely known/accepted when it come to choosing a PhD advisor.

"Choose the advisor, not the project" is what I was told when starting my PhD.

Projects change over time and a good advisor-advisee relationship is a crucial for success.

5/

A casual hang out also provides a way to do a gut-check. These folks are key stakeholders in your trajectory at the company and hold immense power over you. Why join their team if you don't get a good feel about them.

4/

If the VP can only talk about work or thinks that they are the smartest person on the table, that's probably what it takes to succeed there, no matter what they say about work-life balance or growth mindset.

This is the "watch, not hear" equivalent of "show, not tell".

3/

The senior people are ones that have succeeded in that environment/company/culture. Chances are that succeeding in that place requires adopting a similar lifestyle.

2/