[ryguytilidie]

The last company I worked for was Scribd, and we hired a lot of young engineers and paid them less than 1-2% equity and a decent wage. I guess one could argue there was some value they were losing.

HOWEVER, I can name 5-6 people who started their own YC company as a result of this. If those people had spent 4 years sitting at Google vs 4 years with us, they wouldn't have gained those same skills.

FWIW: I totally agree with the author about working too much. I genuinely don't understand what startup's obsession with working people to the bone is at all.