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"28. Keep salaries low and equity high."

"Don't pay people a fair salary; instead, offer them bespoke lunches catered by the finest local delis, a bus pass, and the promise of an amount of equity ultimately so trivial that even if the company sells for a couple hundred million, they still won't be a millionaire after all the taxing is said and done."

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You should not join a startup as an early employee (with a correspondingly low salary) for an equity position that will not make you a post-tax millionaire in a 200MM exit.

Fair enough, but unless you can predict the amount and terms of any future investment, you've got no way of knowing this.

I'm guessing you'd need at least 2% up front to have an even chance of having 0.66% (or $1MM + taxes, in a $200MM exit) of the company at the time of sale.

Without a face in the boardroom, how do you stop yourself from being diluted out to nil?

This usually only happens if the company is failing, in which case your stock is close to worthless anyway.

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