The bigger lie is that 1% doesn't mean 1% of the total sale price of the company. It means... whatever the founders and investors want it to mean. Every time th

The bigger lie is that 1% doesn't mean 1% of the total sale price of the company. It means... whatever the founders and investors want it to mean. Every time the startup gets a new investor, the founders print new shares and give them to the right people who deserve it: the new investor, the old investors and the founders of course. The thought of giving more shares to the "founding engineers" rarely crosses their minds and the original 1% quietly becomes 0.1%, then 0.01% and then nothing. If you want a real 1% you need a contract similar to those given to investors.