I think part of the problem is that founders/employers/employees don't have a common term set that's known to be a fair deal to all parties. It would only take

I think part of the problem is that founders/employers/employees don't have a common term set that's known to be a fair deal to all parties. It would only take the addition of a few simple protections to make the equity a fair deal, even without divulging information about the cap table. I'm sure other sets of protections could be devised which provide different tradeoffs. After all, there is no reason that employees couldn't have a dedicated board seat! - The employee equity participates at the highest prefered equity pool. - The employee option strike price will always mirror the lowest 409A valuation while the option is open. - Vested employee options are valid for 100 years while illiquid, and 7 years post liquidity event. - Modifications to employee equity pools resulting in a decrease in option value as the result of a funding round must be accompanied by a tender offer of 70% of the pre-funding option value. The above terms wouldn't provide much value if employees didn't understand that the companies equity is better than a competing employers equity.