I feel like there's a lot of founder/non-founder equity disparity that doesn't quite make sense. If it ever got to a point where startups genuinely had a hard time recruiting good talent, I would think/hope that one lever available would be to shift the equity balance a bit.
Another might be to just pay engineers in cash closer to their market value. I think (not sure) that people in other fields who work at startups end up having a smaller gap between elsewhere comp and startup comp? Though that also usually comes with even less equity.
All that said, most startups seem to still be able to hire. Maybe people find the experience rewarding enough relative to FAANG to accept the gaps. Maybe people don't quite do the math to understand what the outcomes look like.
Personally, I had left FANNG to go to a startup a few years ago, was recently looking for a new gig, considered going back to FAANG, but decided on another startup that I liked for a lot of reasons, and got myself to a point where I thought the break-even valuation wasn't too crazy. But it's very much not "this will make me rich" and more "this seems like it'll make me happy and I feel like I'm not literally setting money on fire by going there".
Another might be to just pay engineers in cash closer to their market value. I think (not sure) that people in other fields who work at startups end up having a smaller gap between elsewhere comp and startup comp? Though that also usually comes with even less equity.
All that said, most startups seem to still be able to hire. Maybe people find the experience rewarding enough relative to FAANG to accept the gaps. Maybe people don't quite do the math to understand what the outcomes look like.
Personally, I had left FANNG to go to a startup a few years ago, was recently looking for a new gig, considered going back to FAANG, but decided on another startup that I liked for a lot of reasons, and got myself to a point where I thought the break-even valuation wasn't too crazy. But it's very much not "this will make me rich" and more "this seems like it'll make me happy and I feel like I'm not literally setting money on fire by going there".