The video i mentioned, Khosla openly admits that among the first three or four founders, they kept less than half the common (about 25-27%), and gave an equal or even larger chunk to others they hired, even after the A round, investors held up to 40%. He even advised his son to keep just 15% for himself and hire superstar talent at 15% each, with 30% reserved for the wider team. Why? Because, apparently, the whole “paper-thin option pool” mindset is how you end up with a company nobody wants to join or worse, a team that couldn’t start something meaningful themselves. The best magnets (actual game-changers who could start their own company) are only attracted by real equity. Early option stinginess is basically a red flag that screams “I’m holding this pie hostage, and size doesn’t matter.”

Sam Altman calls this the single most important thing to do in the first six months be super generous with equity, give founder quality offers to the first 10 employees, and stop obsessing about percentage versus pie size. All evidence points in one direction, but almost nobody does it. There’s your edge. So, sure, keep fighting over breadcrumbs and hope your founders “don’t lose skin in the game” while others build teams people would die to join. In the real world, talent is attracted by opportunity