[JohnFen]

> If an employee couldn't get stock options in a startup, then there would be significantly fewer cases where they would choose to join a startup over a more stable, mature company

That's possible, of course. I haven't seen any data to support it.

In my own experience (which is not statistically meaningful), this is a weak effect. I strongly prefer working for startups and very small companies, and most of the engineers I've worked with have stated that things like stock options aren't important to them (that's part of why options are so widely referred to as "wallpaper").

The attraction to working for startups, for both myself and most of the people I've worked with, is that startups offer better working conditions and more interesting projects.

However, I do feel the need to underline that this is just my subjective experience and it may not representative overall.