It's a great example of the power laws in startups: it's much more lucrative to have a minor role in a major success than a major role in anything minor.
Seeing the outcome of the startups he listed, it would have been much better to work as an enterprise CRUD developer at a bank, insurance company, etc
Enterprise CRUD developers don't make that much. I'm confident OP made more over his career than them.
The average CRUD developer working in the US in most major cities can make $130K to $165K within 5 years with aggressive job hopping.
Throughout this thread, it's clear you have an ax to grind. Startups are obviously not for you, but many enjoy them and benefit.
I think he wrote that he didn't make anything from that. He held onto the equity because he (unfortunately) thought Virgin would turn it into a success.
There are so many people especially on HN who succumb to survivorship bias. Most failed startup founders never admit it. The original author is not one of them and he was willing to be open about it - that’s a compliment by the way.
“Many” may benefit from them. But statistically, most don’t
I will also repeat the obvious (but oft missed) observation: working in a revenue-generating industry, not a cost center. This doesn't need to be a startup, but very few banks or insurance companies generate their massive products within IT.
I said in another reply, that I made plenty of mistakes and had plenty of “failures” so I’m not faulting him for that. But where did he say that he learned from his failures and worked on his weaknesses that allowed him to succeed based on his goal of becoming a successful startup founder?
The power laws actually cut both ways. I think the optimal path is not entirely obvious without some particular understanding of whether or not you are a stronger player as a leader or a follower.