Note that the major risk for an employee isn't that the startup fails in 2, 3, or even 6 months. The risk is that 5 years down the line their stock ends up bei

Note that the major risk for an employee isn't that the startup fails in 2, 3, or even 6 months. The risk is that 5 years down the line their stock ends up being worth 0-249k, but they gave up 250k in salary in the same time period. We're also in the situation that we likely have no way to asses whether the risk we're taking is a good one. Especially if the company takes on investors. Especially as the years go by - it can be difficult to figure out when it's best for us to cut our losses. An individual employee might not be taking on more risk than a founder. But in aggregate they might be.