Comment by cheriot

One of the things that keeps me away from startups is how disadvantaged employee equity is. Options become golden handcuffs when they have to be exercised to leave. Execs and investors are not in the same boat as employees due to preferred shares, liquidation preference, and other terms. None of these are disclosed to employees.

I've heard too many stories of start ups being sold where the founders cashed a big check and the employees didn't get anything.

To be clear, I'm not an expert in this, but the startup ecosystem needs to regain trust if it wants to hire more competitively.