Financially they don't generally risk anything. Yes, your compensation could end at any time due to termination of your employment, but the risk of not getting

Financially they don't generally risk anything. Yes, your compensation could end at any time due to termination of your employment, but the risk of not getting paid at some point in the future is unavoidable regardless of whether or not you're an employee. The major difference is that as an employee you're very unlikely to have to put any of your own capital at risk.