[mlieberman85]

How so? He definitely took a risk. He is taking an elevated risk because the company might not be there in 6 months. Especially with a young startup. It's one thing if the guy is becoming a chef at lets say Mastercard or Bank of America or some major company that there's a reasonable expectation that the company isn't going to go out of business tomorrow.

With that said I actually think stock options are a good incentive for all employees. It provides some reasonable guarantees on both parties. On the one hand the employee is given incentive to work hard because the more productive they are the better the company does and the better the stock does. Also it gives them something nice in case they get laid off and the stock goes up. Also the company sees those same benefits. The employee will probably work harder and more productive because they have more incentive to.