I was interested in this question too after seeing this post. The criterion for getting early funding from places like Ycombinator has changed substantially. T

I was interested in this question too after seeing this post. The criterion for getting early funding from places like Ycombinator has changed substantially. The thinking used to be to find great teams including tech ability, invest in them very early, and let them pivot around until they find product-market fit. In the last few years, the model has shifted substantially. Now, it seems that incubators and early money investors expect you to already have a decent business idea, have it in some sort of production or beta cycle, and show actual revenue for a year or more before they're interested in risking their money. In practice, this skews the whole process in favor of people with a business and product focus. Frequently, I'm seeing MVPs that are built offshore by inexpensive teams, or even some of the no code solutions. Early funding is basically raid your saving account, and hit up your friends and family (or, be a repeat founder with a big win on your bio). , If the mvp shows some traction, there suddenly needs to be some serious technical leadership, which is not the skill set of the founders. The founding engineer concept is an attempt to square this circle by giving enough equity to a talented tech lead to convince investors that you have the technical chops to chart a course over a few years and execute without a major catastrophe. As to the surprisingly low comp, here's the truth: Startup has become a glamour profession, equivalent to fashion or entertainment. You can pay poorly because there's a long line of people with the talent and ambition to try it out. The status boost you get by saying you're working at a Silicon Valley startup with white shoe VC investors is very valuable in some circles. If you want to make money, and you can cut it, do Faang. If you have a relatively low aversion to risk, and ambition to do big things and be important someday, take the plunge with startup, but don't fool yourself for a minute that it's a sure thing, no matter how smart you are.