We did something like this, and the goal was absolutely not "to incentivize people to create value for the company." For a venture-backed startup, that can mak

We did something like this, and the goal was absolutely not "to incentivize people to create value for the company." For a venture-backed startup, that can make sense, but for us it didn't. The company already had value when people joined and not only was "an exit" not guaranteed, it was quite unlikely. We built the company to run it indefinitely. I believe I used a phrase like "In the very unlikely event that the company changes hands.." to introduce this bonus. Because of those differences, this isn't compensation or incentive and, as you noticed, it doesn't try to be. Think of this as electively sharing a neat event with those who have invested part of their career in the company.