> were based on the hacker ethos from the 80's and 90's, where a group of passionate and crazy smart people worked on tough and important problems, pulling engineering miracles daily.

This sound a lot like a startup. Being a dev at a startup is very different from the big Coorp. Maybe you only had experience with large companies?

If this is going to be your first time at trying something with startups, try to find A Job in one. Or maybe for founders looking for a CTO. Avoid funding a startup unless you have this crazy will that just pushes you to do it.