> if your goal is to average $500k-$1M+/year over the next 5 years, your chances of making that as an employee are probably far less than your chances of making

> if your goal is to average $500k-$1M+/year over the next 5 years, your chances of making that as an employee are probably far less than your chances of making that owning a startup Exactly. Startup is the only way to make money, while being reliably preserved from management errors which you can't prevent or compensate for. You can join an early Facebook, but that's a luck game, not a systematic approach where you'll actually influence chances.