This. It seems that it's acceptable in tech culture to use "you have too much stock" a reason to even underpay founders. This is busted logic, as the company could explode at any time, not to the fault of anyone in particular (but sometimes yes).

So far, I think I've been in 3 decent startups that all of which failed and do not exist anymore. None of them exited cleanly. Some might, but you might not want to stick it out that long, and those are often hard commitments to make depending on the work environment.

New grads and skilled developers alike should never be seduced by "we can't pay more , because we are startup, because we'll give you more options". Not only is the probability of success a factor, but so is dillution, and so is the chance that you won't see that money for 8-10 years even if things go well (long after a company is acquired).

Many sales can end in a net-loss, or only VCs get paid out. Sometimes the CEO nets a really nice private deal to run the new company (and has also been extracting a nice salary all along, probably).

Stock is free to give out, so a company is going to try to give you that instead of money. While it can be nice, possible payouts for most are going to be low, and often enhanced salary over that N years would have been better - and especially from an expected value calculation perspective.

Obviously, there are exceptions, but I'm a big believer that companies should share profits, and probably evenly, without regard to title hierarchy instead. I'd also scrap or outlaw 'executive' bonuses when the employee bonuses are not along the same lines in terms of flat value (not % rate).