Bootstrapped companies often don't give stock because there's no expectation of being acquired. They simply chug along over the years, as you've discovered for

Bootstrapped companies often don't give stock because there's no expectation of being acquired. They simply chug along over the years, as you've discovered for the last 14. As you've paid competitive wages, I don't think there is any real need to give out stock. The Mailchimp founders didn't when they sold. Some bemoaned that fact when the two founders and they alone made billions, but as I see it, their employees could have easily gone elsewhere for more money or stock. That they didn't is an implicit understanding of their employment agreement.