Also, most startups use a little trick: they tell you that your equity is enough to make up for the difference in salary. Some of the clever ones will even do this using the valuation at the last fundraising event. VCs will agree that startups are a risky investment, and they seek 10x return on their investment because most of their investments fail. If you know that most investments fail, then you should really be compensated at a risk-adjusted amount of equity (ie: you should get waaay more equity at the current valuation than the discrepancy with the market rate to compensate you for the risk that the equity will be worth 0.) Additionally, there is the chance that after starting employment you discover the personality fit isn't there or you otherwise have to leave before the first year is up; if you don't reach your one year anniversary you take a 100% loss on the income discrepancy because you have no equity. To add insult to injury, you ARE NOT BEING GIVEN THE AMOUNT OF STOCK IN YOUR PACKAGE; an "option" is just the right to purchase at a set price. So really, people are "paying" you the difference between the current valuation of the company and its future growth, so you are getting a much worse deal than the last round of investors.
