[gnarcoregrizz]

Yep. An employee won't see any upside of the project they're working on. There are no incentives besides some nebulous promo dangling ("we'll see where you are at the next review cycle...") , and usually no way for employees to capture the upside of their project. I created something valuable for the company I work at, and I was left without upside - just my salary. Meanwhile, the people with stakes in the business say, "well you're making a salary," while they are buying new homes.

Engineers - you are capable of creating an extreme amount of value that far exceeds your income. Take care of #1.

[ryandrake]

Companies want to have the scrappiness, grit, late hours, and employee devotion of a startup but without having to pay that pesky "outsized upside" when things go well.

I once worked for a small closely held company (CEO and family were the sole, bootstrapped shareholders, no institutional funding), where the CEO would regularly moan and complain that his employees were so lazy and not dedicated enough and that they should "treat it as if it were their own business." It never really dawned on him that they might do that if it actually were partially their own business, with an equity stake (or even a bonus structure that rewarded effort).

[CMCDragonkai]

Are you willing to take the downside too? How about the company doesn't pay you anything but gives you a cut of the profit, but also charges you if the project fails.

There's no upside if there's no downside.

[jahewson]

That’s a creditor, not an employee.

Even VCs take a management fee.