How much risk did those founders take though? Consider the salary they could have made at a large company and that they effectively invested 100% of that at se

How much risk did those founders take though? Consider the salary they could have made at a large company and that they effectively invested 100% of that at seed-stage multiples. (Assuming they were taking zero salary early on). There was significant risk the founders investment in the form of time could have gone to zero, they deserve some return on that risk.