His mom telling him he's "neurodivergent and won’t survive at a smaller company"... unfortunately I am familiar with this type of mother.
Also, hardship. I have learned so much from that, that it feels almost hypocritical not to heartily recommend it.
I'm fairly certain I'm not the smartest guy around, never was, but my mother never put anything in my path to make me believe I wasn't.
Sadly starting my own company, I realized how hard it is to work with founders who are neurodivergent in a different and incompatible ways. Just be prepared to examine the culture closely to figure out if it's a fit for you.
I'm now at a massive household brand name company and every day I want to rip my eyeballs out and give up on capitalism forever. Whoever thought big government was incompetent needs to understand the colossal waste and inefficiency of private enterprise will always dwarf that of the public sector.