[kwisatzh]

I think there is a deeper conversation to be had over here -- many outfits in the valley seduce engineers and the talent with this spiel of making money, while as you say the chances of this happening is very rare. In expectation, one would probably make more money working at FB/Google/Apple over a lifetime than at a random startup. Founders would likely prosper, and of course investors will likely recoup their money but most of the time a staff engineer wouldn't make much. I feel that the VCs in the valley are running this racket of seducing and exploiting talent, all the while knowing that most folks wouldn't get much out of the hard work. I suppose one can make a case of Wall Street being more fair in terms of wages distributed as a function of effort (and ensuing results) put in.