The article said he was there for 4 years, joining in 2011, and watched it grow from 50 employees to 1000+.  So not a total early employee, but also not a few months before IPO.<p>You also need to consider what equivalent returns would be at competing companies.  Someone who joined Google or Apple in 2011 with a decade of experience could easily have made $350K <i>in stock compensation alone</i>, but with a higher base salary and even less risk.