Not joining one startup whose worth will be $0 in the long run is not enough. One needs to evaluate another type of exit that, in fact, is much more common that an IPO: acquisition by another company. In that scenario, you've worked hard for a number of years, the company will be sold for hundreds of millions of dollars, and you still probably will end up with nothing. The name of the game is "liquidation preference".
I have been through one of these scenarios and it's incredibly taxing and stressful: all that work, company selling for a boatload, and all I got was a lousy T-shirt.
I have been through one of these scenarios and it's incredibly taxing and stressful: all that work, company selling for a boatload, and all I got was a lousy T-shirt.
https://marker.medium.com/my-company-sold-for-100-million-an...