This has not been my experience in recently helping build a startup and seeking VC money (that they are overly exploitive), but perhaps we had more realistic ex

This has not been my experience in recently helping build a startup and seeking VC money (that they are overly exploitive), but perhaps we had more realistic expectations going in. Anecdotal surveying amongst prior founders that came in as mentors during our recent accelerator stay suggested that at a typical $20-50mil exit (an average "successful" tech company sale), "unproven" founders should each expect to have 3-5% in equity remaining. That's after 1-2 seed rounds, and at least A and B rounds. Terms significantly improve for "proven" founders.