[mdb333]

Shareholder/liquidity preference is very important... for example if you are VC backed and there are multiple classes of stock, eg. common vs preferred, you will probably find that preferred stock holders have payout preference. Even if you own a large chunk of common stock the purchase price might not be high enough to take care of preferred stock holders with any significant amount of money left for common shareholders. Generally, at a certain acquisition price preferred stock is converted to common and all shareholders treated equally.

Best thing is to have someone review all your stock agreements and such.

Anecdotally, the last company I worked for was eventually acquired (long after I left) for low 9 figures. Turned out the price was just enough to pay back investors and other shareholders got nothing... I imagine that felt pretty shity for folks who spent years building "equity."