Have you ever actually worked in a start up?

That's not how it works. You can negotiate whatever you want. The deal can still change out form under you as new investors come on.

Not to mention, you're negotiating from a point of information asymmetry. They know way more about their plans for the company than you do and will often tell you what you want to hear rather than the truth. You can make some attempts at discerning if they're being honest or not, but ultimately you're left to just make a guess.

They also enter the negotiation from a strong position economically. They aren't going to miss a rent payment without a Job. The company itself may be fucked if they can't hire, but not the investors/founders.

So the negotiation is inherently unfair from the start.

> Sounds like many in this thread just have a sort of spilled milk viewpoint. No one forced you to work for these startups.

This is not relevant to whether their actions were moral, ethical or fair.