I still own equity in companies I started in the past and no longer have any day-to-day participation in that I'm happy to hold on to.
I've also done what the founder in the article has done - sold equity for very little.
The reasons for doing so are various - most of those reasons being more practical or rational than you might expect.
In my case, I sold my share because I had no faith in the vision, or faith in the potential or even worth of what we pivoted to. I had enough equity that I had a fiduciary responsibility to further the goals of something I was confident would tank the company. It was either fight the board/VCs and my cofounder, risk being sued for not acting in the best interests of shareholders, or sell me stake and move on.
Said company went out of business 2 months later as it pursued its unviable, worthless pivot.
I've also done what the founder in the article has done - sold equity for very little.
The reasons for doing so are various - most of those reasons being more practical or rational than you might expect.
In my case, I sold my share because I had no faith in the vision, or faith in the potential or even worth of what we pivoted to. I had enough equity that I had a fiduciary responsibility to further the goals of something I was confident would tank the company. It was either fight the board/VCs and my cofounder, risk being sued for not acting in the best interests of shareholders, or sell me stake and move on.
Said company went out of business 2 months later as it pursued its unviable, worthless pivot.