> 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.