I don't know if I agree with the authors position based on the examples he gives. I'm willing to bet the Google engineer who allegedly was offered the $3.5M in stock to stay was a very key engineer. Google doesn't offer everyone millions in stock not to quit. And as many of the readers of HN know, every startup is not being acquired for talent grabs. Just because we hear of a few (or even what might seem a lot), the percent in comparison to the number of startups is miniscule. I hear about someone winning the Lotto every week; that doesn't mean everyone is winning.