Employees can put in notice and be gone if something they don't like is going on. C-level mostly not. There is a lot less job openings for C-levels... When you

Employees can put in notice and be gone if something they don't like is going on. C-level mostly not. There is a lot less job openings for C-levels... When you are simple employee it is still better to get your paycheck and invest on your own in other companies. As a IC level employee mostly you can invest your paycheck freely. C-level guy before buying some stocks/investing probably has to go via lawyers/legal so he also is has lot less options for diversification of his investments. You are also making such statement looking at successful companies, there are loads of companies and C-level people who were invested for life in it and company went under. If you are IC you should get market rate salary, don't settle for less, invest it in other places. I don't accept equity as a compensation, I want market rate salary and the rest I will handle myself. Let investors keep their risk, I don't want any of that, because you know not every company is successful.