Vesting is a safety device for the company. Equity isn't really intended to "reward" early employees. It is intended to motivate them to work hard on the compan

Vesting is a safety device for the company. Equity isn't really intended to "reward" early employees. It is intended to motivate them to work hard on the company so there will be something of value out of which to get a big reward. The short video here (not the written stuff on the page) may be helpful: https://www.ycombinator.com/library/5x-how-to-split-equity-among-co-founders https://www.ycombinator.com/library/5x-how-to-split-equity-a... A company is like a living organism. Living organisms have inputs and outputs and that's part of being alive. In this case, one "output" is that people leave sometimes. The fact that it happens is natural and normal. But you don't want them to leave in a way that's like cutting out your heart without anesthesia.