[PhoenixReborn]

Usually the investors - the funding amount means that the founders and early employees can get paid a living wage at least (as a former VC-backed founder I can say that they probably don't get paid exorbitantly). But investors will get rinsed if the company can't either reach IPO or raise a subsequent round at a higher valuation. This becomes very difficult when the company is already worth $200M on paper, and need to get the revenue to a point where that valuation is justified.