Not sure why you're being downvoted. It's a good question. Yeah I saw through it. I've seen too many people screwed out of their options to put any stock in it (heh).

Funny enough, my current company seems to have pretty good odds at making me a good chunk of change from my options, but I didn't even know I got options until after I accepted the offer.

Many companies flaunt it and give a weak offer accordingly. That's a pretty big red flag for me.

As a recruiter, there's an interesting relationship, whereby people use funding raised as a positive metric (oh yes, they raised $200m, this must be a good company!)

Even though the less they have raised, the more valuable your equity is likely to be. It's fascinating to watch.

I always read the "We raised $x million dollars" as "we're not going bankrupt this year, so we can pay your salary." You're right about raising less means you get in earlier, which means you should have more return.

For a startup, raising less money, and a new employee getting more equity, also generally means the position has more risk. So the reaction you see is not necessarily irrational.