I have several friends and acquaintances whose exits as founders were in the $5-500 M gross exit value range -- far from a Google &#x2F; FB outcome.<p>Those people all made an entire career&#x27;s worth of money, or more, all at once* and with capital gains tax treatment to boot.  (* well, after an earnout &#x2F; lockup)<p>They also exclusively held common shares.<p>The deciding factor is whether their exit value was a meaningful multiple of the invested capital.  If you raise $100 M and sell for $100 M then it&#x27;s hardly fair to expect a windfall.  If you raise $50k and sell for $5 M it&#x27;s very fair to expect a meaningful personal outcome.