I generally agree but I think he misses a glaring societal driver in inflation. $40k in 1986 was probably pretty rad. In 2023 300k revenue split across a small team is not going to pay the bills, even before the marketplaces and taxes take their cut. On 300k something nearer 120k will actually land in their post-tax/post-fee pockets to pay for their food and electricity that year. Split across even just three people, that's not yet a sustainable business.
Inflation calculators aren't the whole story for specific comparisons. $40K was probably a pretty good salary for an engineer /software developer with the (mostly) necessary credentials and some level of experience in 1986. (That's about what I earned as a product manager for a computer company with prior work experience and two grad degrees at that time.) Software developer salaries in the US, especially on the West Coast, have largely outpaced other engineering salaries as well as professional compensation more broadly.
