I was employee 18 at a startup recently acquired by Google. Maybe not super early, but I was able to make big contributions that had a large impact on our eventual acquisition. It was a fun ride but I won't be doing it again for one main reason: startup equity distribution makes zero sense for early employees. Founders get 20+ times the equity. Yes they take more risk and work harder, but they're not taking 20 times the risk or working 20 times as hard.
Also there's a bizarre reluctance to show employees the information they need to value their equity, like number of shares authorized/outstanding/issued, existing liquidation preferences, or the whole cap table. Although it worked out fine for me this time, I will never again take equity compensation in a small company without access to the cap table.
Also there's a bizarre reluctance to show employees the information they need to value their equity, like number of shares authorized/outstanding/issued, existing liquidation preferences, or the whole cap table. Although it worked out fine for me this time, I will never again take equity compensation in a small company without access to the cap table.