$1000/month is pretty low savings for someone who works in tech in the Bay Area. It's not unrealistic to put away $10K/month if you hold a senior position at one of the major tech companies (think about it: total comp can easily run $250K+/year, so you're taking home about $160K/year after taxes. Save $120K/year and you still have $40K/year to live on, more than most non-tech workers get). At $10K/month you can save $600K in 5 years, good for about 10 years of living expenses if you're frugal, more if you get good investment returns.

It's also not unheard of for tech workers to skip the "found a company" stage entirely and retire off their savings, with F-U money, after 10 years in the field.