> The situation that the VCs and founders are in is often enviable, but isn't really relevant here.

Respectfully disagree. It's relevant to the extent the parent comment was talking about employees wanting to have someone else "hold the bag".

> Regular employees need to be financially responsible about accepting jobs with private-company equity comp, and not expect miracles.

Agree that it's their responsibility and no one should be starting a kickstarter for them or anything. But that doesn't mean you can't sympathize with them. They are often fairly young people who aren't experts on contract law. It's not unreasonable to say that at least some of them have been exploited with excessive promises. The industry would be a better place if rather than say "they should have known better", we instead said "employers shouldn't exploit people". A precedent of bad behavior shouldn't excuse it.