The Code Is Just the Symptom
It is amazing how culture problems often start with the CEO. Sometimes, non-technical CEOs are very good at their own speciality (selling, motivating, etc.) but extremely bad at systems thinking.Other times, CEOs hire yes-men and yes-women below them and everyone is afraid/unwilling to tell the CEO the truth.Other times the company has raised a ton of money and attracts people who would otherwise not work at a startup and whose major focus is resume building and moving to the next job.If the CEO is the only person meeting with investors or only trusts one or two other people to meet with them that is another big concern. It means there is likely no transparency into the actual team and what is actually going on, which means the CEO is likely BSing the investors.All of these are reasons why you should not work at a startup if you do not 100% believe in the CEO.  Be skeptical b/c most startup CEOs really do not have a track record of insight and integrity.  If the CEO is aloof or seems out of touch and not someone who you think would really enjoy talking to you about your job and who respects the work you do, be wary.