The company where I last worked went public 10 years after founding. It would've been life-changing at peak, except the price slumped in Dec '21 before end of lockup. I should've sold it on the slide down as it never recovered, but was too bought into what could've been. Still grateful for how it turned out as the job paid pretty well and the equity helped with financial independence but given the vagaries of implementation, timing, and psychology it feels like less of a motivating factor now. To think that life would be completely different having started months earlier still stings.