Employee equity is so tiny, only a handful of companies have been able to retire rank-and-file employees, even after big exits. Founders, on the other hand, do quite well in exits usually.

On the big exits, the early employees are often doing very well, but obviously not those that were employee 1000 or joined a week before the announcement. Founders do better, but that's expected, they also carry much higher risk.

And really, playing the lottery to win a million is still playing the lottery, even if others who spend even more on the lottery are trying to win a billion. Don't want to lose money on the lottery? Don't play it. I don't, and I never get a bad feeling thinking of what else I could've spent that money on.