I'm not arrogant enough to claim to be an expert, but I have had a decent number of experiences for someone my age. I grew up in a small family-owned sandwich shop (which failed in 06 after 20 years). I worked for multiple mid-sized game development studios before I moved to SF to work for a post-series A 13 person YC startup that I watched grow to 50 people. I spent some time at BitTorrent, which has had its share of financing and staffing fluctuations over the years.

I've been a part of a number of companies as they've succeeded and failed, and I've learned the difference between doing so gracefully or incompetently.