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I think your situation is more unusual than you think.

Small startups vary a lot in what they pay, and in what they can afford to pay. Mostly it's lower than FAANG pay.

You sure about that [0]?

[0]: https://www.levels.fyi/salary/Google/

95% of small tech startups won't pay anywhere near what Google would offer.

Maybe your offer at Google isn't the reality of all offers.

Stock based compensation happens quarterly, which is frequent enough to be a regular stream of compensation (and you get a sign-on bonus when you start so you don't have to wait for liquidity either).