my experience exactly at the company I worked at for the last 3 years (I'm somewhere else now, and enjoying it much more so far). Management at that company be

my experience exactly at the company I worked at for the last 3 years (I'm somewhere else now, and enjoying it much more so far). Management at that company began to systematically harass, exclude, and demoralize early employees (I was #4) until most of us left. I still haven't got a straight answer, but my best guess is that fear of a down-round was taking over and the founders were eager to claw back some of the equity they had tied up in option grants to early employees, so they could try to protect themselves from the consequences of the impending down round.