Yes, I mean it usually happens like this (a) Some dude is making $500K/year at Google or $250K/year elsewhere or whatever (b) They start a privately-owned com

Yes, I mean it usually happens like this (a) Some dude is making $500K/year at Google or $250K/year elsewhere or whatever (b) They start a privately-owned company and hit $1M/year personal income and are pretty happy, at least happy enough to not want to go back to working for someone else (c) But then soulless conglomerate offers them $20M+ in one go for an acquisition I don't blame them for taking the $20M. It can be a life-changing amount of money.