I agree with the author. A few (actually still good) devs I know prefer to solve a problem in a sophisticated manner, scalable and all the stuff in 160 locs instead of using the non-scalable solution of 40 locs that will also solve the problem, if only for the next 12 months or so.

I think the problem is the incentives. As a founder I need the stuff done until some deadline while as an employee I prefer learning new stuff in a company.

So I found myself on both sides of this story and I have never been more productive than as a founder because I only choose the small scale solution because I can complete two tasks per day instead of one task every two days.

Note that 40 locs is meant as a placeholder for "quick to program and easy to maintain" code and 160 locs for "fast to execute, scales, worse to maintain"

EDIT: Worse to maintain as in "the solution is not immediately obvious or I need to understand the abstract concepts employed or I need to know some special lib to understand it". All three forms of "worse to maintain" are examples of a greater investment of time and brain to understand what's going on.