"Market wage" doesn't end the discussion. Some people had market wage, some had above, some below, many were millionaires or hundred-millionaires coming in. ~$

"Market wage" doesn't end the discussion. Some people had market wage, some had above, some below, many were millionaires or hundred-millionaires coming in. ~$300K is great cash, but it's peanuts relative to $6B. Everyone worked hard, but only the founders and the very top tier actually get rich. The rest get one-thousandth or many-thousandths of what founders get. People are shitty negotiators, and everyone just accepts that they should get a tiny little slice of the pie. I believe in part it's because they think everyone has a small slice. They don't realize how much the founders kept for themselves (they think it mostly all went to the big VCs), and how huge the drop was from founders to engineer #1, and from #5 to #6, etc. Everyone just accepts that the leadership (and ONLY the leadership) should become ultra-rich at the end, while the rest move on to the next venture and hope to do a bit better next time. "But I took the risk!" says the founder. Sure, buddy, you took the risk and everyone else just enjoyed a walk in the park.