[freddyc]

This is an important calculation that too many employees ignore. They get lured in by the stories of early Facebook and Google employees walking away with tens or in some cases hundreds of millions from their options, when in reality most start-ups fail and of those that succeed a sub-$100m exit is more likely than a blockbuster exit.

As an early employee you can probably negotiate 1-2%, which after dilution, tax and all the other fun things that come with options doesn't generate the returns to justify giving up the better part of a decade while arguably taking on just as much risk (if not more) than a founder. I've worked at several start-ups - including one where the founder plundered the employee option pool to offset his own dilution - and won't work at another unless it pays an above market salary or I am in a founder role.