You are speaking in some really large generalities. Being an early employee of a startup isn't indentured servitude.
If you are offered little equity as compared to the founders, don't join. If the founders won't share the financials of the company with you, don't join. If they wont pay you the salary you want, don't join. If they wont offer you the opportunity to grow into the role you want, don't join.
And you can't argue that every company is like this, because once upon a time I was employee #1 of an early stage startup and your post doesn't align with my experiences at all.
I'm not taking anything away from founding a company, I think in many cases that is a great idea. But being an early employee isn't such a horrible deal if you are selective in what jobs you take.
If there's a market for lemons, you'll get two types of people: people who realize it's a market for lemons and stay clear of it—and people who don't realize this, and end up exploited by the market.
Tu quoque: "If you find out the car has water damage, don't buy it. If you find out the car was in an accident, don't buy it. If you find out the car was stolen, don't buy it."
Nobody wants to buy such cars; people are effectively tricked into buying such cars by the information assymetry inherent in the market. This is why there are lemon laws.
And just because there are good used cars for sale, doesn't mean it isn't a market for lemons. The good cars (and jobs) sell and sell quickly, while the bad cars (and jobs) stay on the market—so the market becomes saturated with bad cars/jobs, and the actual good cars/jobs become so rare that people invest more in pursuing them than they're worth, creating a sort of dollar-auction market failure.
> The good cars (and jobs) sell and sell quickly, while the bad cars (and jobs) stay on the market—so the market becomes saturated with bad cars/jobs, and the actual good cars/jobs become so rare that people invest more in pursuing them than they're worth, creating a sort of dollar-auction market failure.
This, at least in my experience, is exactly what happens with musicians seeking bands.
> If you are offered little equity as compared to the founders, don't join. If the founders won't share the financials of the company with you, don't join. If they wont pay you the salary you want, don't join. If they wont offer you the opportunity to grow into the role you want, don't join.
Lots of people don't join startups because of these reasons - which is exactly why she wrote this piece, in an effort to convince more people to consider startups.
> If you are offered little equity as compared to the founders, don't join.
There is no "if". Employee equity is always a small fraction of founders'. This won't change until people realize the discrepancy, or demand more equity at early stage startups.
If you are offered little equity as compared to the founders, don't join. If the founders won't share the financials of the company with you, don't join. If they wont pay you the salary you want, don't join. If they wont offer you the opportunity to grow into the role you want, don't join.
And you can't argue that every company is like this, because once upon a time I was employee #1 of an early stage startup and your post doesn't align with my experiences at all.
I'm not taking anything away from founding a company, I think in many cases that is a great idea. But being an early employee isn't such a horrible deal if you are selective in what jobs you take.