Meaning the ability to raise money was a prerequisite in the dot-com era because without money you had nothing so your ability to raise money elevated you to founder.

Now bootstrapping or a small amount of angel funding can go a long way so equity models (IMHO) need to evolve if startups want to attract top talent, especially considering a joB at Google could easily net you $200k+ in total comp (and far more than that for top talent) with far lower risk.