Bonatsos: Founding engineers taking low equity are the foundation of VC
Niko Bonatsos · Inside Silicon Valley’s VC Playbook | WTF is Venture Capital? - 2025 Edition | Ep. 24 · Nikhil Kamath · Aug 29, 2025 · at 2:51:03
Early-stage venture capitalist Niko Bonatsos highlights the asymmetrical risk and reward borne by founding engineers who enable venture-backed startup success.
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“Our founders wouldn't do well if there's like, you know, unique class of people, founding engineers or founding talent that show up. A day after your company gets funded or get started, then they get like one 30th of the equity that you get. God bless those people. They are the foundation of like the startup and the venture capital industry.”
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