The key assertion of the fine article seems to be that if you've worked as an engineer in a startup, then you at least have seen first-hand how startups work, h

The key assertion of the fine article seems to be that if you've worked as an engineer in a startup, then you at least have seen first-hand how startups work, how they are run, what problems they encounter and what solutions work/fail there. The dynamics of a startup are quite different from those in a large, stable (even if growing) company, so an ex-startup-engineer might have seen more relevant things than a middle manager from some Fortune 500 company.