> If you worked at a startup (not a small business), the most likely outcomes after 4 years is either 1) Company went bust, 2) Company grew. Right, so the bott

> If you worked at a startup (not a small business), the most likely outcomes after 4 years is either 1) Company went bust, 2) Company grew. Right, so the bottom line is this: After 4 years working at the startup, unless it already went bust, you will typically want to exercise, and then you'll get hit by a big tax bill for purchasing a security which is still very likely to end up at zero. It's a risk no matter how you look at it. Unless you happen to work at a startup that became a unicorn, which is very rare, you will end up paying good money for something that may be entirely worthless. So in the best case scenario, you take a risk for an upside that may put your comp around the same level as what you'd get for simply working for FAANG. Worst case, you pay a big tax bill that drops your comp even farther below what your friends at FAANG are making, which is already going to be twice or more to begin with. Surely you see the problem here, especially for risk-averse engineers.