Money saved, borrowed, or inherited represents a significant percentage of someone’s life. Even if you deny this, the money in someone’s pocket in the present represents an enormous percentage of that person’s future life.

Put yourself in the shoes of the owner who took risk up front. Yes, you took some as well, but at any time you could have walked away and accepted another job. If the owner put on chains of debt, walking away means losing a house, other significant assets, or payments for years into the future. If the company is at breakeven and debt was involved up front, not much of it has been retired. The debt may be gone, but memory of the burden and stress is not.

Everyone wants equity. Lots if not all employees feel like the deserve it, even the person who answers the phone and could be most easily replaced. The owner presumably took the risk up front with the objective of making money. To make sense, giving away equity should come with an expectation of adding to the owner’s wealth, not subtracting. Employees and consultants who clock out at the end of the day do not fit this criterion and are already being paid in exchange for their time and effort. The people who will add to the owner’s wealth are the people who will bring in new customers, sell more to existing customers, and generally work on the business — not just in it — to make it more valuable.