[m0zg]

Yes, I'm aware of this little nuance - I've been through startup equity meat grinder myself. It's too complicated to quickly explain to a layperson though, and deliberately so. Many people are working for startups not knowing that they'll get bupkis if those startups succeed. I'd venture to say easily the majority. Many founders on HN try to pretend they won't negotiate their often abusive equity offer terms with their best employees (a lie - they will) because that requires "board approval". Most of them are also not huge fans of prospective employees hiring a lawyer to review the equity offer, to at least understand how the employee is being screwed.