From a financial perspective, working at a company like Google is often safer than starting a business, but it may not lead to personal fulfillment for everyone.

The path from being a Facebook engineer to raising money for a startup is not straightforward, and many people mistakenly believe it is easy.

The talent market is competitive, but Google is fortunate to attract top talent and has a strong track record of employees starting successful companies.

Starting a company is challenging, and if it were easy, more people would leave their high-status jobs at companies like Google to pursue it.

Google had substantial traction before raising any funds, which enabled its founders to secure favorable terms in their early fundraising rounds.

Fundraising can be one of the hardest parts of starting a company, and while it may seem like an open market, it's often not rational or fair.

It's a misconception that being too far along in your startup's development disqualifies you from applying to Y Combinator; many successful applicants have raised significant funding before joining.

Working at a big tech company like Google can instill a mindset focused on scalability, which may not be helpful in the early stages of a startup where doing things that don't scale is often necessary.

Many founders extend their magical thinking to believe that funding comes from luck rather than understanding how the world truly works. They often think that if others got funded through luck, they can too, without studying the actual processes involved.