Agree they deserve a good part of it. My qualm is mostly around what &quot;good&quot; is. Employee #50 making $350k off a success doesn&#x27;t feel like like a tragedy to me. If employee #5 made that at Box, I&#x27;d be upset too.<p>I disagree strongly about your characterization of risk. Long run losing of $10k for 10 years is nothing like losing salary completely for a year. Unless you&#x27;ve been very good with money, taking a year with no salary in the Bay Area means Ramen. That year is also the start-up&#x27;s most risky and the one with the least support. Most of the time when I hear these arguments it&#x27;s from employees who have never tried founding. People who&#x27;ve tried both and know how difficult it is to keep yourself going for a year making nothing and trying to convince someone to pay for what you made don&#x27;t think the equity split is unfair anymore-- even when they go back to being employees.