This was surprisingly entertaining. There's some truth to it, but it essentially misses three things:
1) The intangible benefits of being at a startup (as a founder or early employee) -- working on interesting problems, with smart people, in a well funded environment. You learn things, meet people, get to use amazing tools. (Startups definitely aren't the only way to do this -- academia or, for engineering, some parts of the military or government or big enterprises have some awesome toys, and some world-class experts, and interesting problems, too. But in Silicon Valley, the barrier to entry is really low, and the problems are generally the right size for individuals or small groups to solve (partially) and quickly.
2) The downside to failure is exceptionally low. It's all other people's money (at least in Silicon Valley); your real cost is opportunity, but generally the market values a failed startup founder or early employee at enough of a premium over a member of a later stage team that you can catch up quickly.
3) The EV of upside is both the odds of success (correctly identified as low) and the magnitude of that success. 1% odds in an even game suck; 1% odds where you're given your wager by someone else and you get to keep 50% of the upside and the upside is potentially 10000:1 is pretty awesome. Doubling down on success, moving away from failure, and you can do this 5-10 times pretty easily.
1) The intangible benefits of being at a startup (as a founder or early employee) -- working on interesting problems, with smart people, in a well funded environment. You learn things, meet people, get to use amazing tools. (Startups definitely aren't the only way to do this -- academia or, for engineering, some parts of the military or government or big enterprises have some awesome toys, and some world-class experts, and interesting problems, too. But in Silicon Valley, the barrier to entry is really low, and the problems are generally the right size for individuals or small groups to solve (partially) and quickly.
2) The downside to failure is exceptionally low. It's all other people's money (at least in Silicon Valley); your real cost is opportunity, but generally the market values a failed startup founder or early employee at enough of a premium over a member of a later stage team that you can catch up quickly.
3) The EV of upside is both the odds of success (correctly identified as low) and the magnitude of that success. 1% odds in an even game suck; 1% odds where you're given your wager by someone else and you get to keep 50% of the upside and the upside is potentially 10000:1 is pretty awesome. Doubling down on success, moving away from failure, and you can do this 5-10 times pretty easily.