We don't know about the OP. He didn't say what his situation was. For the hypothetical situation of my parent my stance stays even if voted into oblivion. And I knew it would likely happen given the overall sentiment on HN. Like with variable renumeration itself knew what I was getting into. FWIW I have a variable mortgage and I knew what might happen and is now happening and that is why I didn't buy at the top of what the bank would give me.

If you work for a startup, like you say, there's usually no option to get more base comp. Absolutely understood. You do that when you are young and take a chance to hit it big. Don't complain if you don't hit it big though.

I never said I applied at a startup though and the example I made is more indicative of Amazon or Google.

The way I see the parents example the appropriate analogy would be a funeral for people that liked standing on the train tracks knowing a train was coming and trying to jump before it hit them and I wonder why everyone is surprised that it happened.