Founders get so much equity because they started the company, and they can offer as little or as much to others as they want.
Non-founding employee equity is driven by market dynamics, where "taking on risk" only explains how they got in the situation of having so much to begin with.
It's fair in the market sense, but it doesn't need to be fair in terms of risk/reward.
Perfectly stated. Employee compensation is a contract freely entered into by the employee. If you think you deserve more, don't take the job.
However, I have sympathy for the fact that founder risk in SV has declined dramatically over the last twenty years, while employee risk has not, but if anything employee stock pools are smaller than they were a decade ago. Yet every founder says "it's impossible to hire good people".
Non-founding employee equity is driven by market dynamics, where "taking on risk" only explains how they got in the situation of having so much to begin with.
It's fair in the market sense, but it doesn't need to be fair in terms of risk/reward.