Traditional startup hiring advice, before I left my cushy big tech job, was: 1. Startup equity is worth zero/should be valued at zero 2. You will have to wait 5-10 years before you can access liquidity 3. 99% of startups fail

But in my experience, joining at the right time can limit your downside, many are offering liquidity events now, and idk, telling everyone to value their equity at zero seems a bit...premature, or excessive? If you do that, then why would anyone ever work at a startup? [I sometimes jokingly wonder if it's a psyop spread by big tech companies to retain talent :)]

The startup field has changed a lot in the past years, so I'm wondering if that traditional advice was perhaps more accurate in a time when unicorns were actually unicorns, or when startups really were paying less in base, equity, and bonus. What's some more nuanced, up-to-date advice you'd give?