I'm not sure how concerned I am about having enough founders swinging for the fences and building big companies.
Certainly founders are getting more of what they want as these small exits happen more frequently. For first time entrepreneurs a few million in the bank is a huge fucking deal.
Acquiring companies are getting what they want, too. Often at the lower prices they want the talent, and I think companies are starting to understand more and more the value of acquiring founder talent.
I think we'll see where this goes. Everything is still playing out and it's a very rapid evolution. Examples:
1) Founder cash-outs are happening more and more, likely in direct response to more frequent early acquisitions.
2) Acquiring companies are still experimenting with how to motivate founders after a talent acquisition. The state of the art for the median case -- shelf their code and throw them into a team often with little creative freedom -- is quite stark.