That's literally the scene of almost any SV startup. They don't "do" remote. Nor work life balance. It's all about asses in seats. Stay very clear of a work environment like that.
Sort of hoping the company just runs out of money so that I can have a free out.
If you don't expect them to succeed then staying a full year for the options is pretty pointless, since they typically expire in ~90 days after you quit.
It’s probably also worth mentioning that we have a bit of a bias against distributed teams, based on previous investment experience.
When optimizing for input cost, a reasonable solution for most purposes turns out to be: pack them like battery hens.
I'd be interested to hear your bullet points on working remotely for a SV startup. Work/life balance, perceived differences from onprem workers, etc.