Like many people deep inside the startup scene, the author completely forgets that much, if not most, developer jobs are with neither startups nor "big companies".
There are thousands of small to medium sized companies out there that can offer a decent balance between various aspects mentioned, including most of the stuff the author considers typical for a startup.
If you think your startup is competing for talent with the likes of Microsoft and Google, you may be looking in the wrong direction.
Agree 100%! I made a grand total of $18,000 in stock from failed startups I joined over the years. And that was with 2% of the one company that earned anything in my pocket. OTOH I did a lot better joining growing post-IPO companies where my 0.1% was 0.1% of something, something already selected for success by earning the IPO achievement badge. Which is to say I'm a contrarian that believes if one were to go someplace like facebook right now and fit in, things would probably turn out reasonably well in the long-run.
After all, Google was minting millionaires a good two years past their IPO...
There are thousands of small to medium sized companies out there that can offer a decent balance between various aspects mentioned, including most of the stuff the author considers typical for a startup.
If you think your startup is competing for talent with the likes of Microsoft and Google, you may be looking in the wrong direction.