I’ve never done a PhD (though have worked as a software developer in a research lab) but I feel I’ve had the most freedom to push the state of the art in the te

I’ve never done a PhD (though have worked as a software developer in a research lab) but I feel I’ve had the most freedom to push the state of the art in the tech I work on in open source while funding myself through consulting. My fear of going the startup route is that it ends up more like being a PI and having to chase funding and so much of the success lies less in the tech and more in the execution of how you sell it. So go for funding and get the money to hire a team to do the fun stuff or do the fun stuff yourself on the side…