I think the things you've pointed out are not red flags. It's sort of the primary job of a startup founder to be a salesman first and foremost, and that's what these founders are doing. It's also not crazy to think that they could have raised $200 million+ around 2021; back when interest rates were low people were happy to throw money around with reckless abandon.
There are some red flags, though. I think the concerning thing, to me, is the founders' connections to cult-like movements. Consider:
The founders lived together in one of those SF grouphouses, and they advertise this fact: https://archive.house/
The CEO's website, especially, has a lot of grandiose and millenarian language, and she seems to have a greatly exaggerated sense of her expertise regarding topics that she has no training in (especially psychology).
The founders first met at a meeting for the Center For Applied Rationality (described early on in this podcast), which is/was sort of a central hub organization for the lesswrong crowd, who are notable for their cult-like behavior.
In that same podcast episode (around 17:45 minute mark) the founders seem to obliquely imply that their $200 million funding comes from fellow "like-minded" people in the lesswrong crowd.
So, basically, the downside here is that the founders - and indeed all of the staff, if they're hiring people like themselves - may have grandiose, millenarian ambitions that are not grounded in any kind of real science or practical business plan, and will never need such grounding because they have rich benefactors who think the same way.
This can be fine, depending on your goals. If the paychecks clear and you get to do things that you want to do, maybe there's no big downside. The biggest risk is the potential for the usual downsides that come with cult associations: incompetent management and dysfunctional social environments. No way to know if that's the case until you talk to them, though.
I think the things you've pointed out are not red flags. It's sort of the primary job of a startup founder to be a salesman first and foremost, and that's what these founders are doing. It's also not crazy to think that they could have raised $200 million+ around 2021; back when interest rates were low people were happy to throw money around with reckless abandon.
There are some red flags, though. I think the concerning thing, to me, is the founders' connections to cult-like movements. Consider:
So, basically, the downside here is that the founders - and indeed all of the staff, if they're hiring people like themselves - may have grandiose, millenarian ambitions that are not grounded in any kind of real science or practical business plan, and will never need such grounding because they have rich benefactors who think the same way.
This can be fine, depending on your goals. If the paychecks clear and you get to do things that you want to do, maybe there's no big downside. The biggest risk is the potential for the usual downsides that come with cult associations: incompetent management and dysfunctional social environments. No way to know if that's the case until you talk to them, though.