If you exclude the CEO at many SV companies there are most certainly ICs who make as much as people at that level all over the Bay. Certainly that’s true at Square.
That’s probably true, but there are a lot less highly paid ICs at the top than there are highly paid managers. So yes, you _can_ make the same, but your odds are a lot worse.
I don’t disagree with the imbalance or odds. Impact required to be that highly paid an IC usually boils down to “create the thing the company earns a large portion of its revenue selling” which is tough to do, especially more than once.
I’m not sure I understand what you’re saying. Okay exclude the CEO (why though?), are you saying the second highest compensated person at Square is an IC?
