I think it's unfortunate people reacted to this point in the way that the author has. At least for me, all I'm saying is, look at everything this guy had to go through! And look what his payout is. It's not pissing on the payout, or the guy's effort, or saying he's a mark. It's acknowledging that most businesses don't even get that far, so this is the good case. Meanwhile, you can sit down and make the same money in less time, taking what I would wager to be a significantly larger number of naps. And it doesn't involve magic, or being a big-cheese VP, or any of this other stuff people say.
Now, obviously not everyone is cut out to be an employee, let alone an employee at a big tech co. Nothing wrong with being an entrepreneur, if that fits the cut of your jib better. It's just to say, let's be honest about the risk/reward situation here. It's not high-risk, high-reward compared to getting a big tech job. It's high risk and middling reward. The job route is much less risk with an equal or greater reward. Why is it so horrible to say this??
I realize the spectrum isn't limited to startups vs bigCo's (you can be self-employed as a consultant etc.) but the numbers are almost always met with disbelief. Just look at this HN thread where people are accusing each other of being liars or "lazy".
Now, obviously not everyone is cut out to be an employee, let alone an employee at a big tech co. Nothing wrong with being an entrepreneur, if that fits the cut of your jib better. It's just to say, let's be honest about the risk/reward situation here. It's not high-risk, high-reward compared to getting a big tech job. It's high risk and middling reward. The job route is much less risk with an equal or greater reward. Why is it so horrible to say this??