&gt; It makes sense to be conservative in valuing equity, but if you think it&#x27;s never worth anything, you shouldn&#x27;t be considering startups in your job search.<p>I somewhat disagree. Valuing startup equity at $0 doesn&#x27;t mean that other aspects of startup environment (or the environment of <i>particular</i> startups) -- such as the working environment, and kind of problems you get to work on -- can&#x27;t be valued sufficiently to make the non-equity portion of compensation sufficient.