I'm a case where I don't really expect to ever see the equity pay out, but I might still have gone the startup route for the fun and the learning. But if I were to go back in time and advise myself, I would have taken more cash and less equity. At the time, I took more equity and less cash.

As someone just starting out, the hidden cost of exercising and the tax bill that follows was staggering. It would have eaten up most of my fledgeling liquidity and dug into my rainy day fund.

My advice to my former self would be to take more cash over equity and invest that cash in the public markets. Diversify your investments to reduce the risk of the giant startup bet you're about to make. Compounding is a hell of a thing, even over four years, and people tend to forget to account for investment returns when they value their cash.