We're speaking about expected values here. The expected value of joining a slightly de-risked startup as an early employee -- provided you don't get entirely sc

We're speaking about expected values here. The expected value of joining a slightly de-risked startup as an early employee -- provided you don't get entirely screwed on equity, which is certainly a nontrivial risk -- is higher than the expected value of founding your own startup at T=0. This has a lot to do with things like risk, salary/equity mix, and the probability that your startup will actually succeed. Of course, the absolute value of a big win, should a win come along, is higher for the founder than for the early employee. But the early employee has more flexibility, and probably takes more swings at bat over the course of a given time period. He won't hit a homerun, but he may hit a series of doubles. The founder might hit a home run, or he might strike out. And on an unrelated note, the expected value of a stable job at a place like Google or Facebook is probably a lot higher than the expected value for either a startup founder or startup employee. This doesn't mean everyone should go BigCo and not mess around with startups. It just means people should figure out their personal risk-tolerance levels and ambitions, and act accordingly.