I too share a similar story. I worked at an appealing start-up with solid angel funding as employee 1, and eventually got promised x% in options upon exit. ("Up

I too share a similar story. I worked at an appealing start-up with solid angel funding as employee 1, and eventually got promised x% in options upon exit. ("Upon Exit" is essentially a giant carrot on a stick.) Whilst I had fun working there, later it became apparent that even if the company sold for 30m, in 3 years, I could earn that same amount in the contract market. When risk/reward is taken into acount, it was a pretty easy decision to leave. Money talks, bullshit walks