Yes, more than changing the world, fake equity is what start ups are all about. The goal is to take the fake equity and try to make it real. As an example, a

Yes, more than changing the world, fake equity is what start ups are all about. The goal is to take the fake equity and try to make it real. As an example, a friend built a prototype in a couple months and with the help of someone else, he was able to raise a $1M note at a $10M cap. With 50% of the company he now has $4.5M in equity. But it’s all imaginary. Without an exit it means nothing. Employees are the ones who need to watch out for this, because the founders turn around and try to pretend the equity is real. An offer of $200k of this fake equity isn’t really $200k. And for you to ‘get rich’ and 10x your $200k, you will need to 10x the founders $4.5M of fake equity. All the founders need to do is see an exit and they are rich since the initial seed round gives them millions. So don’t worry about $ numbers, just the percent of the company. If it is early, understand the cap table and fight for your fair share. And don’t stop fighting, especially if you are adding value. Remember the founders got millions of ‘fake equity’, they can and should share. Don’t forget that the ebullient founders see a payday on most any exit whereas you won’t. I like the advice that you are either learning or earning, and if you aren’t founding you most likely are learning. Also, don’t let people talk you far below market salary since you aren’t just giving up big company salary, but also bonus and stock. Most of all though, you need to trust the founders since it’s easy for them to screw you and easy for them to screw everyone if they don’t make the right moves. Even if you build a good product and get customers, if there are bad ratchet clauses everyone but the investors will get screwed. This is geared more toward early stage. For later stage you aren’t going to see the cap table or anything else. The main thing for mid to late stages is growth: users, customers, and revenue. You are stepping on to a rocket ship priced for perfection, if it goes off trajectory your equity is going to be worthless, so don’t feel obliged to stay and help out of charity. At this point the founders have likely already made millions, the senior employees are probably going to be okay, but the noobs are going to get burned. YC and others have done a lot to help founders. Unfortunately, no one has done much to help employees. So pay attention and do your best to find people you trust. Remember, founders have every incentive to sell you the golden dream, since it’s likely to be golden for them.