>Outside of the room, the Engineering team laughs at your questions, Operations and the CEO give each other quizzical looks before laughing too, and they go on to the next candidate.

This is such a short sighted perspective that it's laughable.

Good management will see that the candidate is thinking about joining the team as a long-term commitment and isn't just making a job change for a pay increase over their last/current role. It shows that candidate is showing up for the same reason the company exists -- to be fairly compensated for services rendered.

A leadership team that laughs at these questions are going to lose long-term, and should be avoided by potential employees and VC alike.

Edit: grammarz