The student mentions that Google's pay is "average" and the housing stipend is taxed more than wages, bringing the overall compensation down to on par with other employers in the valley. Fair enough.

He then says that other more prestigious startups are paying more and allow employees to be on the ground floor and have a bigger impact - I'm curious to see a list of these companies.

I also wonder if "fresh out of grad school" versus "worked at Google for 2 years + grad school" gets you into these startups. I still believe seeing Google on your resume gets you a second look.