I had the opposite experience. I also joined a startup 5 years ago, and I was one of the very early employees. I received 0.5% equity as stock options, and my s

I had the opposite experience. I also joined a startup 5 years ago, and I was one of the very early employees. I received 0.5% equity as stock options, and my salary was around $120,000. I stayed for a few years, and now I own around 0.1%. The company is now worth a few billion dollars, so my stock is worth a few million dollars. I have no liquidity yet, but an IPO is certainly on the horizon. I don't feel like I took a pay cut. It was my first real job as a software engineer, and it gave me some good friendships and connections. I can't say I learned a lot, and I didn't grow very much. The work was very boring and there weren't any technical challenges or interesting problems. I just got very burned out with the long hours and pressure. But it was nice to live in the Bay Area for a little while and have the "silicon valley" experience. I got very lucky and might be able to retire in a couple of years, so of course I'm going to say that the risk was worth it. But I do realize that I'm an outlier. My advice: If you can somehow spot a potential unicorn and you'll be one of the first employees, then drop everything and join it. Look for a YC company with some impressive investors, and try to get 0.5% - 2%. But I've noticed that YC has started funding a lot of companies that seem pretty terrible, so you have to be very careful. Don't think of yourself as a employee. You're a VC who invests their time and energy. If the first one doesn't work out, then do it a couple more times. Work on your own side projects and see if any of those take off. The connections can be really valuable, and working at a startup is a great way to find future co-founders.