That's an interesting take, I do see some logic to getting such a significant stake- but I doubt that would be considered. A lot of the value they attribute to pending patents that have come out of the lab
Patents are worthless unless you can execute on the business and can afford to police and prosecute said patents. Then someone comes around with an even better solution which they patent. They think patents (ideas) are worth money because they don't know better yet.
Don't undervalue your role in all this. I would leave of I were you, not worth the troubles. You will most definitely be happier working for someone else and also enjoy getting paid.
Yeah I see your point. When I work alongside the founder though it's awesome. We have similar values and will just basically work nonstop, like when we were getting the YC application ready. He is just a professor/lab director and CTO of another company so his focus is split until he leaves in ~6mo. I definitely see the potential in the technology, brand, him etc. But these are not small issues to ignore...
Don't undervalue your role in all this. I would leave of I were you, not worth the troubles. You will most definitely be happier working for someone else and also enjoy getting paid.