Most early-stage startup employees should price the equity grant at $0. If everything works out great, it'll be a lot of money you can't do anything with about

Most early-stage startup employees should price the equity grant at $0. If everything works out great, it'll be a lot of money you can't do anything with about 5 years from now and often only turn into actual cash a decade or more out. In the meantime, your personal finances has to work based on the cash salary you receive, without any raises (because "raises" for a start-up are achieved through equity grants becoming more valuable). Yes, the grant has a positive expected value. This value is too uncertain and too illiquid to significantly affect your planning, which ought to care a lot more about what the maximin strategy suggests for your course of action.