Indeed. I consider my last startup option windfall a once in a lifetime success story, but the BigTech I’ve been at since I left the startup world has paid me roughly the same amount in RSUs when you consider all the time spent at both. And the BigTech is going to keep paying me pretty consistently.

I didn't say hang on for ten years, I said people joining late stage series D companies like Stripe, Databricks, SpaceX etc.

Those are very likely to have multiple liquidity events before they even go public, and are known to pay more than FAANG. You're trading some liquidity and some security for a higher upside.

Those are the companies that have the best luck luring away FAANG engineers with higher comp (if things go well).

And at a late stage, you’re not likely to see any more from your equity than working at a public BigTech company, your equity is not only locked up pre-IPO it’s also locked up post IPO.

When you work for a public company, you know exactly when your RSUs are going to vest, they appear in your brokerage account and you can (and should) sell the same day and diversify.

All of the above mentioned companies have liquidity events that are not related to IPO, so your comment about lockup is not accurate. They also pay quite a bit more equity than FAANG companies, because it is overall less liquid. I'm not saying it's guaranteed to pay more than FAANG, but it's likely to work out that way.

How did that work out for late stage Uber employees?

Also, historical returns don’t take into account that we now live in a time of high interest rates and the public markets have caught on to the Ponzi schemes of non profitable tech companies IPOing