> what founders risk in terms of opportunity costs and lower wages is usually only slightly more than very early stage employees Very early stage employees (be

> what founders risk in terms of opportunity costs and lower wages is usually only slightly more than very early stage employees Very early stage employees (before VCs get involved and impose the 10-20% option pool that you allude to) tend to get an outsized offering. (and, to me, a pre-VC employee sounds an awful lot like a co-founder, unless they're not committed heart-and-soul the way the founder is.) You might not be aware of the risks that a founder experiences versus a pre-VC employee. These risks are substantial. Many are not even quantifiable. Everyone likes to joke about rewarding failure, but the reality is that the reputational risk is very high. If you are instead talking about post-VC very early employees, there is an even wilder difference in the risk that those employees shoulder by taking a job with a VC-backed company compared to the founders. Let's face it; working for and/or founding a startup is really, really tough and possibly even hazardous to your health. It's not for everyone. In fact, it's really not for almost anyone. But it's one of the few shots at winning a lottery where you can actually change the rules of the game while you're playing it.