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Even as a very early employee (say number 20) of a unicorn probably will not make that much...you'd be lucky to get $2M if it sold for $1B...

Most people are better off just working at a big company if they want to build wealth.

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That’s what I thought. The OP was hoping to receive 1mm for 4 years of work. VP role will give that easy in any sizable company.

Much easier to become a senior programmer at a 3-person startup than a VP at a sizable company.

Which is partially why the VP makes several times more at a stable firm vs options/stock/equity that are a lottery ticket, more or less. The VP won't get paid if the company sells but they can by a new car each year.

$1M over 4 years is L4 at Google. https://www.levels.fyi/salary/Google/SE/L4/

edit: Oh, well I guess that's not counting the startup's salary. If they were getting paid $200k/yr, that's L6 at Google https://www.levels.fyi/salary/Google/SE/L6/. Less easy, but not as hard as getting to VP.

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