If a VC-funded company is acquired for $5M, the founders likely aren&#x27;t getting anything - liquidation preferences from angel&#x2F;seed and A round would likely wipe them out almost entirely.<p>Equity in an early company is 100% based on potential. Why should the guy who filed the paperwork and found an investor claim all the equity for a company he has not yet built? What about the efforts of the other employees (who will probably end up doing just as much for the company)? Unless you&#x27;re paying them an above-market salary, don&#x27;t they have some right to the company they helped build?