In terms of fame: can you name a single founding engineer from any of Apple, Google, Amazon, Coinbase, <pick your successful startup> ?

In terms of money: the ratio of % owned of the company is typically around 20x to 50x, however the risk and value added is (in my mind) much closer than that.

I'd not join as a 'founding engineer' unless I do not care about the $ and can 100% (subpena level) attest without doubt to the founders' characters

I can think of plenty of “recognized” engineers who are heroes in the second phase of startups like apple and Google. Eg Atkinson, hertzfeld, bucheit.

What do you think the ideal split looks like ?

I think that early start up employees take on less risk than founders, so should come with the territory to an extent.

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