If a VC-funded company is acquired for $5M, the founders likely aren't getting anything - liquidation preferences from angel/seed and A round would likely wipe

If a VC-funded company is acquired for $5M, the founders likely aren't getting anything - liquidation preferences from angel/seed and A round would likely wipe them out almost entirely. Equity in an early company is 100% based on potential. Why should the guy who filed the paperwork and found an investor claim all the equity for a company he has not yet built? What about the efforts of the other employees (who will probably end up doing just as much for the company)? Unless you're paying them an above-market salary, don't they have some right to the company they helped build?