Do you reward these people with more than a fraction of a percent of equity? As someone who likes WLB enough, isn't enough of a gambler to take a 0.001% chance of being a millionaire over a 25-50% chance of getting a nice 6 figure payout from a more established startup, and has too many kids to boot, I never bothered looking at a company that didn't have a health insurance plan and a 401k match. But when I learned it was common for a founding engineer to get like half a percent of the company, I was appalled. I'd rather just start my own startup and roll the dice there if I'm still going to have to build the whole damn thing just for a fraction of a percent in equity.
It seems super weird that you'd literally be in the trenches with 1-2 other people who each have as much equity as 50-100 of you.
Otherwise, I mean, why should someone brilliant work for you instead of a company with much better odds of success?
Clearly, companies do hire founding engineers at these rates so maybe I'm the crazy one. But it just seems wild to me.
It seems super weird that you'd literally be in the trenches with 1-2 other people who each have as much equity as 50-100 of you.
Otherwise, I mean, why should someone brilliant work for you instead of a company with much better odds of success?
Clearly, companies do hire founding engineers at these rates so maybe I'm the crazy one. But it just seems wild to me.