This comment resonated with me. I have always felt this way as an engineer, whether it be a startup or a big company. I was always at kids table by virtue of being an engineer.

I solved it by becoming a product manager. I miss engineering, but I no longer have that angst on a daily basis. I have found PMming is a job where sense of ownership + willingness to work to further overall success of the given project is heavily rewarded. And the precision of thought that is a pre-requesite for engineering can equally be applied to PMming (though not all PMs have it!).