They tried to fire me - actually in a rather underhand cowboy manner that I was quite unhappy with for some time after. I gently let them know that they'd actually made me redundant and I allowed them to negotiate a smaller payment than the statutory requirement as a gesture of goodwill. I had another offer with in an hour. I threw the (still worthless some years later) equity away for tax reasons.
Very straightforward - the founders were good people; I was not diluted at all throughout our entire 7 year run (I was employee < 10). We were also acquired by a huge scandinavian company which helped avoid icky shenanigans usually pulled by US companies.