Convincing founders that an early stage company is the right opportunity for me

From talking to some startup founders + hiring managers, this is a legit concern. If you've only ever worked at Meta or Google, for example, many startups won't even attempt to interview you because:

1. It's unlikely you want to leave the bubble of Big Tech, with all the perks and many millions of users.
2. Startups can't match the very high total compensation (TC) that Big Tech cos offer
3. There's a concern that Big Tech engineers can only operate with tons of support and abstraction around them. They can't operate in an unstructured 0 --> 1 environment.

So your job is to convince the startup that the above points are not actually a concern:

1. Talk about how you're grateful for your time in larger companies, but you are deliberately making a decision for something smaller now. Referrals will help a lot here, so you're not just ignored based on your resume/LinkedIn.
2. Talk about how equity ownership is more important to you at this point in your career, rather than liquid comp.
3. Showcase projects you've built from scratch and discuss your willingness to learn.

Finally, you can greatly increase your chances if you're in a major startup hub like SF or NYC, and willing to work in person. If you actually meet that criteria, let me know and we could refer you to some startup jobs :)