I was employee # ~45,000 and my stock options were still worth ~$400K.  Not exactly a startup, but startup employees stand to gain even more.<p>Stock compensation benefits anyone who holds stock in a company that grows unexpectedly.  The meme that it&#x27;s worthless is because many startups don&#x27;t actually grow.  However, if the company isn&#x27;t growing, why are you even working there?