Nothing wrong with family funded business but if after 18 years the 'dad' is the major shareholder it's a bad sign they were not able to raise much outside capital.

It's not so bad, most companies are not 'high flying' but if they have 'startup culture' ... maybe not such a great thing.

Also - family companies can be odd. It very much depends on the situation.

An 18 year old company should simply not be referring to itself as a 'startup' and they should have at very least be settling into some kind of routine. It's fine if there isn't hypergalactic growth - but something fundamental should be there.