This hasn't been my experience. I spent over a decade at startups, a handful of years at a big research lab, and over a decade at a big company. I've made far f

This hasn't been my experience. I spent over a decade at startups, a handful of years at a big research lab, and over a decade at a big company. I've made far far more money from working at the big company than I did at the startups, and one of them had an exit. Unless you are a founder, you will get less in most exits than you do getting bonuses and stock options at a big company once you've climbed the ladder a little bit.