>if you want to become a founder

Why do you need to work up to being a founder? Any bozo can start something new especially given that the vast majority of start ups either never go anywhere or flame out somewhere in the first year or two. Even I've "become a founder" a couple of times.

Right, my goal is not to become a founder, my goal is to live a long time and retire.

I used to be pretty close with the founder of my company and his life doesn't look like any fun.

a lot of people see being "a founder" as a goal because it gives you complete agency in your work.

you could in theory define it as having a sole-proprietorship type lifestyle business.

it's poignant in this thread because many people have worked on "meaningless" projects within a company for years on end - and you don't have a choice.

One of the major benefits to having a less invested attitude is that you are not as annoyed or disappointed when things don't work out. In the end, most of us do not have a stake in the product we are building and the success of the product has only minor effect on the developer, by understanding it's a job and not life you will be happier overall if the project does not succeed.