Only one in ten startups “succeed” and by “succeed” meaning make money for investors that get a preferential treatment on exit.

I’ll take equity in a private company on top of them paying my fair market value in cash. Now RSUs in a publicly traded company is as good as cash. Even though even then you have a risk of the stock falling.

While I personally would never work in BigTech (again) and prefer smaller companies and will accept the lower pay that comes with it. I would never suggest given a choice anyone join a startup that pays less than they could get somewhere else hoping that their equity will be worth something