I know a guy that took a CTO role at a company post-YC acceptance but pre-demo day for ~5%. I can't imagine what the rest of the crew is getting. Why even join a startup at that point?
If that advice is followed, it sort of naturally follows that there is no real rational reason to be particularly aggressive during equity negotiations, and that trading equity for other compensation is a smart move.
> I know a guy that took a CTO role at a company post-YC acceptance but pre-demo day for ~5%. I can't imagine what the rest of the crew is getting. Why even join a startup at that point?
Because the immediate pay and benefits, rather than the speculative equity gamble, is good, and because the work is what you want to be working on. And maybe you like the people/culture, too.
There is no inherent conflict between working on what you like with good people/culture, and also sharing fairly in the mega-riches in the remote possibility the thing is successful. But for some reason, employees routinely accept terms where they'll still be just making ends meet (at least in silicon valley, a million is barely a house) even if the company is so successful that the founders get to university buildings named after them.