This is perfect. I looked at working for startups as though I were an investor, because while an investor is putting maybe 1/30th of their fund into a company,

This is perfect. I looked at working for startups as though I were an investor, because while an investor is putting maybe 1/30th of their fund into a company, I'm putting %100 of my time into it and it will be my sole source of income and wealth, which means I have way more to lose as an employee than someone who YOLO'd a few million of hedged, other people's money into it. As an employee, my risk/reward has fixed upside (+lottery tickets) and an asymmetric downside that includes opportunity cost. Most people are just doing jobs, and that's how they manage, but money is made in direct inverse proportion to how much physical work you do. If you are doing work, you are rarely providing as much value as someone delivering just the value of yours and others' work. Arguably, the most value is provided by people who do the breadth-first search for opportunities than the depth-first search for technical "solution" leverage. A company needs both, but as the post implies, figure out if you would invest in a company before deciding to work for them.