[paulhauggis]

In very rare cases will you ever make a considerable amount of money when you take an equity deal as an employee. As we've seen from many buyouts, the VC get paid first and the employees usually get paid last after the owners.

I've had too many friends that got nothing after working months and even years at a job they hated hoping they would be able to cash out on their equity. I, myself, even got my equity liquidated to 0 after the CEO decided to completely dissolve the LLC and create a new one (A Silicon Valley trick talked about in the Social Network to push an undesirable partner out).

So, I would take the money every single time.