Comment by eaguyhn
6 years ago
I worked at four startups and gained so much experience at each. Even with the long long hours I really liked it. Three of the four failed - the fourth one eventually succeeded after 15 years and I received about $4,000 for my original shares as employee #3 (I can relate to the point in one comment about being a founder instead of an employee).
The founders entire job early on is to convince schmucks that they'll be rich if the idea succeeds while simultaneously making sure to give away as little in stock as possible. It takes people like Peter Thiel to pull that off
True, that. I was a schmuck that saw his equity diluted with every angel round in the one successful startup. But I'm still glad I went through it all.
People can take this as a cautionary tale to make sure your equity is protected or from an optimistic view that, at least, you gained something other than abundant riches :)