Comment by actuator

I joined a startup right out of school, I wouldn't do it any other way even now but the picture he paints is far from reality for most.

I learned a lot, had a lot of ownership and was involved with the product from a user level itself which I loved and even made my skill set very diverse.

But the 200 million line is just outright rare. The equity I was given was pretty low and even though the startup is a leader in its space the equity growth hasn't materialized to any noteworthy level and I can't exit right now. I would have made much more at any FAANG level of companies in RSUs by now like my friends over there have done.

This is why even now while discussing offers with companies I am interested in, I don't give ESOPs much value in the package.