I think you focused too much on the "FAANG" part of my previous post and not enough on the "odds" part. Let me rephrase my previous point:

    Startups are not a reliable path to riches, anymore than the casino is.

A "normal" career, whether in FAANG or in the less flashy parts of the industry, has a vastly lower variablility than the startup route with the same or higher expected value when measured over a few decades. Don't get fooled by the marketing posts that feature only successful founders while ignoring the mountain of failed startups that cost their early employees millions in opportunity costs.

There's this certain FAANG vs. startup dichotomy in this thread. There are a ton of IT-related jobs that pay very decent professional salaries (in not necessarily the very most expensive locations to live) and have interesting --if not necessarily cutting-edge--work. A ton of people are just fine with that.

It does seems that unicorny startups are full of ex-FAANG though.

Is that surprising? They've probably already made lots of money at a large company and want to do something they consider more exciting albeit financially risky.

Nah, it's that they feel they didn't make enough from FAANG cos they got there too late (everyone in a successful growth company feels this way) and want to try again.

Additionally, at the time they joined FAANG those companies weren't as big and they might prefer that environment (I know I do, at least).

Not at all, this is in response to the notion that it’s easier/lower barrier of entry than FAANG. The ones I’ve interviewed at were basically FAANG interviews conducted by ex FAANG engineers and managers.