As a committed founder your entire life is wrapped up in your company, not just your career but to an extent your health, your relationships and your family all depend on this one bet paying off. ...and more frequently it's taking even the most successful startups nearly a decade to reach an IPO/liquidity. Talented employees hired at full market value have a lot less lock in/risk and a much lower switching cost than founders. Also investors place many bets and don't live and die with each of them. As the founder you have one big bet, and setting aside the wreckage that can create in a founders life... it also can encourage them to make overly cautious decisions that aren't aligned with the investor's and employee's long term interests. Taking a reasonable amount of money off the table to take care of your family and have some security is perfectly reasonable.