[sulam]

A founder who does everything you describe should own a substantial chunk of what they've built. They de-risked the business on their own dime. Many (most?) startups these days however are funded by an angel or early stage fund and the founder has very little risk. A failure for them means a cush stint as an EIR for their VC earning $120K/yr to look at companies while they decide what to do next. I hope _that_ company is giving substantial equity to early employees, because the risk is much more evenly distributed.

[AstroChimpHam]

No idea where you got that many-most figure. I hang out with a lot of founders. Don't know any except for repeat founders who get founded pre-product. Not saying it doesn't happen, but it's rare, and finding that Angel to fund you that early is not easy.

[sulam]

We may indeed travel in different circles. Every startup my co-workers have started had cash in the bank before they had product. This may be the Mafia effect -- post IPO we are all at least looking for things to invest in on the side, if not start something ourselves.