Google is still handing out million dollar awards. For many people, the low risk but potentially high reward setup is ideal.
For instance, getting the big Android founder's award probably beat being the 10th employee at Aardvark.
For instance, getting the big Android founder's award probably beat being the 10th employee at Aardvark.
When I look at the dollar amount of some of the largest-ever Founders Awards and then see how many people they're split between, I can't imagine that the payout is anywhere close to even an employee's payout for an acquisition. I dunno how the Founders Awards are divided up, but I'd imagine that it's a skew distribution, with most of it going to the initiators and key early team members of the project. Some of these teams have hundreds of employees; I really doubt that someone who joined six months before the Founders Award makes off with any more than a "Hey, that's a nifty bonus" amount.
Google can and does hand out big bonuses. There's so much cash flowing through the company that a little sprinkle of it (by Google's standards) is still a lot of money. If you're one of the fast-tracked folks at Google, there is no reason to join a startup just for the money.