Remember, Basecamp pays the 90th percentile of San Francisco rates + profit sharing kickbacks for a company that's fully remote. Regardless of position.
If you're looking to cash in on a unicorn, you are almost always better off working somewhere else that will pay you the most in cash and using that cash to make your unicorn bets.
But the allure of partaking in massive success in a revolutionary startup is pretty significant. Less so if you have a steady salary perhaps, but I wouldn't be surprised to see a few of these people use the safety net of savings and a solid technical rep to try some riskier innovation.
I really can't believe I'm explaining startup allure on HN.
You can still partake in the massive success of revolutionary startups with your cash. In fact, you're in a much better position to, because if you're making a lot of cash, odds are you are senior and connected in your field. You have better odds of picking winners and investing in them.
There's also opportunity to buy pre-IPO shares.
Being a qualified investor (which you can get to from zero in as little as 4-5 years if you're making FAANG cash) helps a lot.
At least 1/3 of staff, when offered either 3 or 6 months of salary just for switching employers, accepted it.
I feel like you'd get similar rates, potentially higher, at any employer recent incident or not. If you have the career power to quickly slot in to an equivalent job elsewhere, you just cut years off of your retirement date.
I don't think any "its really about" take can ignore that.