>Your argument is that the profits shared by early-stage startup employees should not be great even when the profits of the firm they were instrumental in build

>Your argument is that the profits shared by early-stage startup employees should not be great even when the profits of the firm they were instrumental in building turn out great. Firms that resell blue-collar labor are often very profitable. I'm not sure why you think they're not. >How is that fair and why should anyone agree to work with you on those terms? It's a marketplace, supply and demand is going to dictate these types of arrangements. There are many more adequate employees who want to work at an early-stage startup than there are early-stage startups hiring employees. I'm not saying anyone should agree to work under these conditions, but as long as they do, others have to remain competitive. I don't personally think it's fair. I think early-stage employees should get a much larger slice of the pie than they typically do. But I'm also not going to indulge the fantasy that being a non-founder and/or non-investor can lead to riches; it may have happened once or twice, but it's very unlikely to happen to you. In almost all successful startups, already an infinitesimally small quantity, the founders and investors get the proceeds from the exit and the employees are lucky to see a bonus check for $5k. >You should really make friends with people who are lawyers, doctors, and in finance. I have friends in all these fields and your idea of these peoples' working hours is a deluded fantasy. They usually work around 50-60 hours a week and rarely take vacations. They certainly want you to think that's the case. I'm not going to say that everyone in these professions works a certain way or another, but there are many who have a lax working schedule (admittedly, I don't know any who close their practice for 1.5 wks every time there's a bank holiday, that's called "hyperbole"). I know this because I have friends who are doctors, lawyers, and in finance. >I don't want to address the rest of your [essay] except to say that you should think about why you go so far out of your way to rationalize what to most people is obviously unfair behavior. I went out of my way to discuss because you seemed like you wanted to do that. This is a discussion forum, after all.