Next up (and the harder problem imo) is for companies to feel like they have enough leverage vs investors (mainly institutional VC) that they can be &quot;nonstandard&quot; in their option contracts (particularly during seed and A rounds). It&#x27;s no coincidence that the companies that have taken the lead on this front are the startup darlings and&#x2F;or repeat founders who have considerable leverage against funders (including YC companies, since their cred boost makes being nonstandard much easier than those without the brand).<p>We&#x27;ve made huge progress in that direction over the last 5 years as ZIRP made money cheap (and since the main leverage investors have against companies is the scarcity of funding, their leverage has decreased dramatically since the 80&#x27;s). But as the funding mania crescendo of 2015 has passed, ZIRP is being wound down, and as private and public market valuations of small young tech companies plummet, I am not sure if that trend will continue into the future.<p>If there is one cohort that can band together to change the status quo, right now, that would be the YC companies. I am hopeful that enough momentum can be built over the next small handful of years by these companies so that &quot;what is normal&quot; can change permanently.