[est31]

The startups where employees get really rich still exist. I'm pretty sure the early employees of OpenAI are generationally rich for example.

It's just that these companies very often are the darlings since their inception, get constantly talked about. Everyone wants to to invest in them and everyone wants to join them. So they have the ability to pick out the best talent, in other words, it's unlikely you'll be able to join that specific startup.

But even 20 years ago, try getting into early Google. From what I heard they had extremely high bars for hiring as well and only lowered them once they got so large that the pool was exhausted.

I'd argue that the total comp at the established companies for engineers has increased precisely because of competition from startups: to make the startup not be the better option.

Does that mean that VCs are not taking a bigger slice than they used to? Absolutely not, but I wouldn't put the blame solely on them.

[bradleyjg]

Re: openAI

We’ll see when it happens. If I had to name a company most likely to have massive landmines buried in front of common stock cashing out, it would be at the top of the list.

[comp_throw7]

Notwithstanding the gross non-disparagement stuff, they've already had 3 tender offers, so not sure what you're waiting for.