I'm decades older, and it seems to have always been a rare thing to be part of a small team of talented people building something special and relevant to the future. These were and are exceptional places and that's arguably why they produced something we're talking about today.

Watch Office Space if you haven't already. That's what most of the irl white-collar existence really reflected throughout my career. And unless you actively pursued (and arguably created in part yourself by seeking out, showing up, and participating) something special even back then at a startup, you were very likely missing out then as much as now.

There are still people making things, irl even. I'd be surprised if Tenstorrent didn't have an environment like you're pining for, or Tilt Five.