I wouldn't use the word romantic but maybe we're talking about the same thing: the excitement and joy you get from building something from scratch as a small te

I wouldn't use the word romantic but maybe we're talking about the same thing: the excitement and joy you get from building something from scratch as a small team. You truly have to understand the whole solution and the team is small enough that rapid changes in direction are still possible and happen regularly. I agree that has immense value and getting experience with it is worth the cost. This is why I work in startups. But what are you going to do with that experience you have gained. To go back to the romance option, if you can't get someone else into the bed, romance can become very sour. I too see that the Box guy got more value than just the earnings on the options. But that more value is largely theoretical unless he can turn around and put what he learned into practice (and get compensated for it).