Why entrepreneurs start companies rather than join them
venturebeat.com
venturebeat.com
"Okay, I can go do work and have a very low chance of getting what are considered signs of success in global culture; I can go into politics and be universally hated, or I can go create a company and be generally admired, along with having a chance at shooting a home run and never having to work after thirty if not wanted, and on top of that, getting the satisfaction of creating something cool and possibly helping people . . . Hm. Difficult choice."
... only if you are great at what you do. Being a mediocre entrepreneur will give you a negative reputation, much more than being a mediocre enterprise IT grunt.
Which is basically what the article boiled down to - people whose skills punch above the weight class shown by their resume tend to gravitate to smaller companies or start their own.