Chaos is more often signs of a suceeding startup than a failing one. Often the demand is too high and tech debt is taken on.

Pivoting is not bad either, it's practically the job scope of early stage startups.

The main symptom I've seen of failing startups is trying to look good. e.g. you're asked to buy products and reimbursed for it, adding features of no value to customers but valuable to investors.