The company could not exist without the employees, and for most startups it could not exist without the investors. Why should one critical component be rewarded

The company could not exist without the employees, and for most startups it could not exist without the investors. Why should one critical component be rewarded not just with more of the company, but with better versions of the same rewards? You can argue that employees are fungible, but so is investor money, and frankly I'd rather take random money than random programmers.