The stocks come as RSUs of publicly traded shares for FAANG+. That's a lot more cash-like than the monopoly money of most startup options.
Sure they can offer it on paper, unsure if it'll be worth anything in four year or even four months.
At least with FAANG you know barring cataclysmic events It'll be valuable down the road.
To each their own. Comparing startup options to mature company RSUs is apples to oranges, and a retelling of the basic trade off between risk and reward. Upside, downside, taxes et. al. combine to inform individual decisions. Both paths have merit. Suggesting startup options are somehow inferior to RSU is simply disingenuous — I would have done much more poorly with RSU than options.
if you think the company's stock is worthless then you shouldn't expect them to be successful enough to compete with FAANG on salary