VCs often get shares with (e.g.) 3x liquidation preference meaning that they should leave with max(3x value invested, num_shares x sale_price / total_company_shares), or less if the company didn’t sell for enough money to pay out that tranche and the more senior shares. For VCs, the point is that in a failed company, they get 0. In a medium-success they get up to 3x their investment a bit like buying a bond for 33¢ on the dollar, and in a massive success they get equity-like payout.

The problem is that if a company has a lot of shares outstanding with a high liquidation preference then outcomes that look like success to employees or founders may not result in those employees making much money, and the employees generally don’t know the relationship between how much the company is sold for and how much they get paid because it is confidential to the senior executives or investors.