Opportunity has arisen to leave a big corporate gig in Houston to a much smaller (less than 50) operation that has recently restructured in Austin. Comparable (likely better pay), but effectively working in startup mode.

Pros:
Established technology.
Growing.
Exact match for skills and interest.
Value what I bring to table.
No upward mobility in my current company and they don't value me at all, and certainly not enough to ever promote me.

Cons:
Need a lot of help to turnaround the books.
Probably a lot more work upfront.
CEO is a bit of a loose cannon, but been around forever.
Risky because they only have about 4-5 years before they run out of cash if they don't fix revenue problem.

Sounds like rolling the dice as long as the owner is around.

Then again, maybe it adds some value if you do it 3-4 years and change jobs.

Yeah. I wouldn't even consider the move unless there is a huge compensation bump.

Nice intangibles are proximity to family and ranch land we have in central texas that is a pain to drive to today.

I did this for a couple of years. While we complain (rightfully so) about big company bureaucracy, there are some logical controls in place that make the workplace somewhat rational and predictable. I personally got used to that and missed it when I did the small company turn-around gig.

A crazy owner forcing me to hire unqualified family members was the tipping point for me!

They need to get board approval but are fighting to make a case big enough to recruit me.

New role would be a director level role thats effectively 3 promotion equivalent in salary at current company.

Would require relocation from Houston to Austin area which they cover.

Salary is $25k higher than what I make now.

401k match is worse (I get 9% match against 6% today) while new is only 50% match against 6%. Effectively lose 6% match power.

Don't get profit sharing with existing company but get 10,000 stock options upon hiring on, and eligible for annual profit sharing after that.

Performance award target is 12% of salary at existing company but 20% at new.

PTO is effectively the same. 27 days at old. 25 at new.