While I agree with this, and matches some of my experience, I'd like to collect more data point. Anyone willing to share such stories?
Working for startups can be fun, but always treat your equity as a lottery ticket because that's all it is (worse in a lot of ways since the rules behind lotteries are pretty solid whereas there are a number of ways companies can fuck you when it comes to equity even if you "win); if you trade a lot of salary for those tickets, you're being a fool.