What if you join a company with equity as part of the compensation, rise the ranks, and then the company goes public or gets sold and you sell your shares? It's probably a very rare scenario that a company will become exceptionally valuable, but it could be an alternative to starting your own business.
but you'll probably need to sell your soul for just a little while to learn what it takes to run a business
yes, but as soon as you can survive on your own do it.