[lion_del]

I understand your point of view - these numbers do not make much sense to me at all - I'd imagine any good engineer would understand his value in the current market and look to maximise his return. But I imagine these people are following the trends they see in other posts, and also hoping that other factors of the job (company, mission, people, coding environment) add weight to their opportunity.

The biggest irk I have with a number of these posts is indeed the equity offering. Whilst I can't comment, or be correct on all the companies, most of them seem quite early stage. I would expect them to offer a larger amount of equity (higher pcg). This to a lot of early stage hires can be a big a motivator. If the company offers a large chunk then it shows a commitment to that person that they value their contribution and see them as critical in the success of the company.