Abstract arguments about fairness and who provides more value aren't really useful, IMO. What is definitely true is that the engineers, who have lots of option

Abstract arguments about fairness and who provides more value aren't really useful, IMO. What is definitely true is that the engineers, who have lots of options, accepted those terms. The investors decided to invest their money, and grant the authority to spend it to those particular founders. Could somebody else have done it better? Maybe, but I'm not sure how I, or anyone else, would have the confidence to tell the VCs how to invest their money, the founders how to hire, or the engineers about which offers to accept, and do it better than the people directly involved.