While this is still generally true for founders, it hasn't been true for early employees in over a decade. VCs decided to capture all of that surplus for themselves.

Startups should be accessible. It's a fault & a problem that so many possibilities have been winnowed away. The glory of 120 hours a week is not the only path.

Only VC-backed startups need to "take over the world" because the VCs need their 10x rockstar.

A company doing $50 million per year with a handful of employees is going to be way more profitable for everybody than a VC-fueled rocket that has a 99% chance of flaming out. Remember MP3.com? Lots of San Diego tech people still do ...

I view the original assessment as "San Diego tech workers understand the reality of their value and can't be taken for a ride by venture capitalists--woe is me."

I found that San Diego tech workers generally have higher clue than most geographic areas.

The less experienced are very solid workers and learn really quickly. However, they're not 4 year Stanford students with filthy rich parents who can afford to go bankrupt multiple times. They're coming from community colleges and state schools, and they need to earn money. In return, they'll work their ass off for you.

In addition, there are quite a few very experienced greybeards scattered in that scene (tech in San Diego goes WAY back--Linkabit spawned a bunch and computers were huge early--Silicon Beach Software and PC Power and Cooling for example). However, they are going to demand appropriate compensation and will not put up with bullshit. I love working with them.

Don't like the San Diego tech scene? Your loss--my gain.