Yes! Funnily enough, the fact that equity grants are "options" to purchase stock at a strike price less than the real share price is much less valuable than th

Yes! Funnily enough, the fact that equity grants are "options" to purchase stock at a strike price less than the real share price is much less valuable than the optionality you describe of continuing working to earn the rest of a stock grant after more information is known. Unfortunately I think it's very hard to pin a value on the optionality to continue working, and I haven't seen anyone mention it when considering joining a startup over a larger company.