[notquitefaang]

You don't need to be good, you just need to be at one of the high paying companies. FAANG and some startups will pay these salaries across the board. Some lesser paying companies will compete on occasion but generally there's a big gap between top paying and not.

[notfaang]

I have not found a startup that would be willing to pay that much plus equity, or even paying that without it.

I would be okay taking a ~40% cut with good equity if I felt the startup / team was extremely solid. I have a friend who did that who made the same as I did. My friend does not regret the decision as the company is doing very well.

(I did not consider joining because of location - north bay vs south.)