A founder who does everything you describe should own a substantial chunk of what they&#x27;ve built. They de-risked the business on their own dime. Many (most?) startups these days however are funded by an angel or early stage fund and the founder has very little risk. A failure for them means a cush stint as an EIR for their VC earning $120K&#x2F;yr to look at companies while they decide what to do next. I hope _that_ company is giving substantial equity to early employees, because the risk is much more evenly distributed.