The comparison is being drawn between employees who joined say google, amazon, or netflix - and those who joined startups. The employees at the public company

The comparison is being drawn between employees who joined say google, amazon, or netflix - and those who joined startups. The employees at the public company benefit in negotiations with the employer by having price transparency on the value of their equity as well as liquidity. You could work for Facebook, but think Apple is a better bet and sell your equity every month to buy apple shares. Most startup employees overvalue their equity and accept lower total compensation compared to their public company counterparts and receive illiquid or potentially even negative value financial instruments in return.