That would be entirely true if equity were handled the same way as it was in 1999. To be fair, I wasn't there to know for sure and can only base this off what I've read. As I understand it equity has changed, almost in the opposite direction of the "free lunch" equation. Equity values are frequently hidden from employees to mask how low value they are, VCs now figured out how to ratchet and protect themselves at the expense of the rank-and-file options holders, and so forth.