It is because they aren't self-funding in the way that an ex-Paypal billionaire can. Elon Musk started Tesla with enough money to be a VC himself, but put it in

It is because they aren't self-funding in the way that an ex-Paypal billionaire can. Elon Musk started Tesla with enough money to be a VC himself, but put it in to his own companies. Normal SWEs can follow this example by saving up and being willing to work for a big discount if it's their own company they're working on. That's not going to let you start a car company but for a website it might be enough.