> founding engineer self-taught
This is such a toxic combination, becuse it requires significant people skills to get out of the "the kid who learned everything here and is grateful for it" and get proper respect as a professional. At some point the only option is changing jobs. I've seen companies matching your offer, finally realizing you actually have value in the market, but don't count on that, don't bluff.
I too ended up as the "go to guy", partly because I had a lot of enthusiamsm for my new job, and partly because the talent pool there wasn't very deep (or maybe they were smarter than me). It's fulfilling until it becomes unrewarding, I had to move on after almost 5 years. Still did consulting for them ocassionally for a couple more years.
That feels more familiar than I'd care to admit - definitely been there, done that. I think what most fail to realize is that it eventually turns into a ball and chain, decreasing your mobility within the organization. So the consequences of running an org on tribal knowledge and Sarahs is far worse, and direct, than that it won't work very well with agents.