>If you could get a boring 9-5 with a big business, be treated with respect, get paid well, have health insurance and a pension, more people would go with that.
In my experience, this is what working for "big business" is like, given that you're skilled at something.
In my experience at a big business, technical skills alone are not sufficient for "be treated with respect, get paid well". It takes a certain amount of shameless self-promotion and other skills normally associated with politicians. The nice thing is that you can do your boring 9-5 in two hours without anyone noticing, and spend the rest of your time preparing for a better job.
If you could get a boring 9-5 with a big business, be treated with respect, get paid well, have health insurance and a pension, more people would go with that. If you could invest in index funds and get 10% return a year you might do that. When your bank charges you more fees than a check cashing establishment, you look for alternatives.
Startups appeal to people looking for something better in these three domains,