No, I remember all those. You should know what they are and how they may be used against you, and you also should have a fairly good idea if your founders are likely to do that. Just because some people are untrustworthy sociopaths does not mean all people are.
If your boss wants to fuck you over, there are plenty of ways for them to do so, in career-ruining ways, even at a salaried job.
> You should know what they are and how they may be used against you, and you also should have a fairly good idea if your founders are likely to do that.
That's what everyone is saying: knowing all of that stuff, the reasonable thing is to take salary. You're just choosing to ignore that that line of reasoning makes sense because you'd prefer yours.
Have you ever been on either side of this sort of thing when it's gone down, or are you just regurgitating the party line?
I've worked as an employee for 2 startups, both of which failed. I had options for one and took all-cash compensation for the other. I've also founded two, one of which outright failed and the other of which is still in search mode. And I worked at a big company, where roughly 50% of my rather generous compensation was in equity.
I'm arguing that the reasonable thing to take is not salary, the reasonable thing to do is get a different job. It's not worth fighting over the scraps of a company that's going nowhere. Find someplace where the pie is expanding and then you avoid all the fights and backstabbing over who gets the pie. If you can't find such a place, create one. (That's why I'm founding a startup now; I'm not averse to working as an employee for someone else as long as they have their shit together, but I see relatively few such companies that I'd like to work for right now.)
If your boss wants to fuck you over, there are plenty of ways for them to do so, in career-ruining ways, even at a salaried job.