That can be the worst of both worlds though... it's late enough stage that your equity isn't really worth much even if the company has a relatively successful e

That can be the worst of both worlds though... it's late enough stage that your equity isn't really worth much even if the company has a relatively successful exit but still less salary because 'it's not a BigCa'. You'd be working mainly because a) it isn't a BigCo and b) the startup culture is still apparent. Sadly both of those things are only going to get less and less true as time goes on if the company is successful.