Startup employees largely have better working conditions (even those who let themselves get conned into unpaid overtime) and softer landings. I remember a retrospective on a photo-sharing startup did the rounds a couple of years ago: it was a failure as a business but the developers were well-paid and able to walk into fresh software jobs at a good salary.

It was founders, not employees, I had in mind. It's a massive longshot, survivor bias clouds our thinking, and you need connections.

At least we in tech can easily practice our craft outside of the startup world and remain financially secure.