People you’re negotiating with want you to buy their line that their equity is worth something so they could pay you less. What would you get as eg employee #10? Half a percent or less. Most startups exit under $100M, and your 0.5% turns into 0.25% due to dilution. It’s also vested over 4 years. We’re talking $250k max over 4 years, with a 5% chance you’ll get anything at all. You’d have to be seriously arithmetically challenged to take that seriously.