No. What I meant was if a company isn't willing to discuss giving you a higher salary but lower equity it probably means that they don't really value their own equity. And not valuing their own equity is a proxy for not valuing the future of the company.
You don't generally want to work somewhere the company leadership doesn't value the future of the company.
It could instead mean that they are being careful with burn rate, and capital is hard to get, and their calculations include employees being part-paid with equity - for everyone's benefit - because companies die by the current account!
Ya, that's true. It's hard to make a rule that is 100% applicable as there are always exceptions. I guess what I would really say is that they should be willing to discuss the situation with you and explain the status of the company and how that informs your compensation. The more in depth a company will go with you the better.
You don't generally want to work somewhere the company leadership doesn't value the future of the company.