[LinuxBender]

Long ago I did. The options ended up being worth less than the paper they were printed on. The upside was, that since I took a very low salary and could do the job of several groups, I survived many layoffs, mergers, layoffs, mergers of the dot-com era. I did not really sacrifice lifestyle, as my work was also my hobby.

I think that most of the time companies offer options over pay, they will get mostly naive people hoping to win the lottery. The exceptions will be if the prospective candidates research the company, its leadership, board members, investors and the success history of all of those folks and determine it is a smart business choice. In that scenario, they may get they people with a good deal of experience. The people with experience will also know to negotiate a non-dilution clause.