All that and I'm not even a liberal saying it ;)
Can you elaborate on that?
This can make it harder to leave the stable and growing pay check and try to create your own thing. This is not to even mention the growing amount of responsibilities that come with age (mortgage, family, etc.).
That's not where hackers who could realistically pull-off a tech start-up usually end up going to.
There is also a psychological cost for some. I for one tried that fat paycheck and cubicle thing for a few years, but I just can't do it now.
I'd happily trade the 30k for complete control of my time and decision making.
In your own business 70k could turn into 200k (or more) in profit. That's a pretty unlikely pay jump for a Sr. Dev. Switching to a middle management job e.g. dev manager, dev lead etc. doesn't guarantee a huge pay increase either. There are people that make a big salary in tech. It's not impossible but it's tough. It also goes away the second you stop working.
Of course your own company could flop. That's a real risk. If it does you've suffered some opportunity cost but hopefully you've learned a lot and had some fun.
Another plus to starting your own gig is that if you figure out how to do it once you're more likely to be able to do it again. Known how to create value people will pay for is an empowering feeling.
I'm not against shooting for the stars and raising money. I think it's worth it if you have an idea that you are die on the hill passionate about and that has the right scale factors. What do you do in the mean time if you don't have that idea? If you don't then shooting for a single that gives you more control of your life and the potential for more upside seems like it's worth the risk.
Who know maybe it will turn into a double.
This is the path I've taken. I'm often surprised there isn't more talk about this topic and the trade offs between home run swing vs lifestyle business vs. job.
I don't think lifestyle businesses and the strategies to make them happen get enough play. I think the current environment is ripe for more software devs to follow this path vs. a job.
Sometimes a binary outcome (death or success) is better than going nowhere and being unable to walk away from it. Most hackers (for better or for worse) aren't really interested in managing a business, but just want to write code. I'm pretty sure all would agree that running a small business is incompatible with "just write code".
Failing in two years and going back to work for The Man (to write code) doesn't sound too bad. Then again, that dynamic may be exactly why startups fail or "sell out" for sums that are leaving VCs (but not angels!) very angry e.g., "don't pull a Patzer, dipshit companies".
It's certainly possible to make the kind of startup that lets you walk away with significant value regardless of how the business does.
There's a big difference between the the kind of expected return necessary to compensate for the risk of failure and the blowout he's talking about.