[Elof]

It just comes down to who the board allows to sell stock and at what time. Most option contracts don’t allow sale of stock to secondary markets without approval and rank and file employees have much more restricted stock. Often founders and key executives will also get some liquidity and stock top up during funding rounds while no one else at the company has that option. By the time a company goes public most founders and key execs have already made quite a bit of money on the side.