Even though you're being over the top and hostile I really do get what you're saying and I sympathize with your situation. The recognized value someone brings i

Even though you're being over the top and hostile I really do get what you're saying and I sympathize with your situation. The recognized value someone brings is unfortunately often very much dependent on their geographic location. Since you're not native to the US (apologies if you are), I think you should understand that the US is a big place. Even many of the states are huge. Even many huge cities like Los Angeles can have dramatically different cost of living expenses depending on the area. Someone living in Alabama, even in a nice city in a nice area is going to have a much lower cost of living than someone in the Los Angeles area. So making more than 90% of the country seems like it's saying a lot but it really isn't. If this were simply a case of a normal employee at a mid-to-large corp it would be a completely different question. And even though this isn't the case his compensation and shares may be more than enough. I'm not arguing that it is or isn't. I'm simply pointing out two things: 1) That even if this was a normal "established company hires an employee" relationship where a someone making 25K in a different country is comparing apples to oranges. 2) A very early employee can be the difference between success and failure for a startup. Even more so if there are two founders and only one is technical. They want to feel respected for their contribution and compensated accordingly. 165K plus 3% might be more than enough. But that compensation package has nothing to do with the rest of the country or the world. Period. It's another apples-to-oranges comparison.