> You are getting a significant title bump that moves your career forwards. To add to this. The title of "early member of <insert famous startup company>" hold

> You are getting a significant title bump that moves your career forwards. To add to this. The title of "early member of <insert famous startup company>" holds a lot of weight in SV circles. Whether or not you legitimately helped those companies in the early days, it's a strong signal that you are valuable. And those <insert famous startup company> doesn't have to be a company that necessarily had a huge exit or has a strong economic reputation. For example - early engineer of Yahoo? Ya, people probably think you're worth one's salt. IMHO - I think this is the main driver people join startups. It's taboo, but vanity feels much more tangible than equity.