Yes and I would have lost out. I think what you are missing is that Apple and Google are 2 companies out of a 1000 or more that didn't make it. One top of it, in the beginning stages it is virtually impossible to know if you are in a winner or not... a friend of mine was employee 300 something at Google and thought the company was going to go nowhere. He took the job as a filler job with intentions of jumping to something better when it came along.

Equity is very similar to the lottery... a few will win hugely large while the masses will mostly receive nothing. Thats how the system works. Ive taken equity and cash at different times over the years. Its not a scientific breakdown but through experimentation the decision to take cash over equity has been reinforced over and over again. Additionally despite my one very fortunate friend, everyone else I know in the industry is far from struggling financially but generally agrees from their experiences that equity is very much just a lottery ticket. (And even if your company does end up being 'the one', you still risk getting screwed out of your shares.) I'd rather have cash.