100% agree. However, because of the way that tech scales essentially for free, companies that already have large markets over which to apply an engineer's work

100% agree. However, because of the way that tech scales essentially for free, companies that already have large markets over which to apply an engineer's work can essentially just buy up all the talent at whatever cost and prevent smaller competition from ever forming. Obviously small companies aren't somehow entitled to cheap labor, but that doesn't mean that the market dynamics don't make it very hard for a small company to break through the initial 'activation energy' of scaling to the point where they have the cashflow (or guaranteed growth to get reasonable investment terms) where paying competitive salaries becomes viable. What kills me is when the companies don't offer decent amounts of equity, which is essentially free, to these early employees as a compensation for the lower salary.