Exactly. About 15 years ago I was offering equity in a good little startup. I didn't take it because I just wanted to go somewhere with a higher salary.
When they finally sold about a decade later I ran the numbers and determined it would have been about $40,000 based on the actual sale price.
Hear, hear. My one-time $10M (early employee) eventually cashed out at a low/mid 6-figures. Take the salary I earned multiplied by the years I spent there, add to it the IPO, and then divide by number of years I was there. I could've trivially surpassed that annual salary elsewhere. Lesson learned.
When they finally sold about a decade later I ran the numbers and determined it would have been about $40,000 based on the actual sale price.
There's no guarantee of a $50M exit for anybody.