Risk is important, but the value of something is a function of its opportunity cost. In other words, if you think a role is not worth the compensation, simply found your own company. Presumably, if the founding engineer compensation is mispriced, your new company will have an advantage over the others. I suspect most will find that founding a company is actually much harder than being a founding engineer.
Frankly, one of the satisfying things about a free market is that we don't have to rationalize these numbers at all. If the numbers are wrong, the market will select for better theories.
Frankly, one of the satisfying things about a free market is that we don't have to rationalize these numbers at all. If the numbers are wrong, the market will select for better theories.