Big tech companies have mostly figured out some kind of infinite money glitch. I don't think comparing compensation at them to startups makes a huge amount of sense. (It makes some sense from the perspective of how much money's coming into your bank account—just not a huge amount.)

Being a prominent face at a startup can also set you up for greater success in your career than being one of a hundred thousand at a bigco.

And as you touched on already, the environment at Oxide is a million times better than the toxicity and empire building that happens at bigcos.