Salary - you would make (much) more at a big company.
Benefits - very bad.
Both of these are valid reasons to work at a startup, if you have a family to feed and care for.
Sometimes any job is a good job, even if it's only temporary while you try to find the perfect gig.
Edit to add:
I've been in exactly this position. I took a dev job with a startup I knew was a complete loser, run by scam artists. But I had to put food on the table. Fortunately, I was only there about eight months before I landed a real job with a real company.
The dodgy company imploded, exactly as I expected it to.
Benefits - very bad.
Both of these are valid reasons to work at a startup, if you have a family to feed and care for.
Sometimes any job is a good job, even if it's only temporary while you try to find the perfect gig.
Edit to add:
I've been in exactly this position. I took a dev job with a startup I knew was a complete loser, run by scam artists. But I had to put food on the table. Fortunately, I was only there about eight months before I landed a real job with a real company.
The dodgy company imploded, exactly as I expected it to.