[nemo44x]

The golden handcuffs can be pure torture. Your soul is being ripped out daily as the new leaders destroy anything that was great about the place. You go to an event and you can't even recognize the place anymore; interlopers everywhere and you're the outsider. You smile and cheerfully agree with them about "how amazing the culture is here" even though they've ruined it already.

But you're 2 months away from an early RSU grant from vesting you a few hundred thousands dollars on top of the ISO's you haven't cashed out yet. But eventually the right opportunity comes your way and everyone is shocked you're leaving like you were when a legendary person left 6 months earlier. You take a pay cut and probably worse benefits and more ISO's than you could imagine to join that series a or b startup you connected with as soulmates and it's going to be OK.