I worked at a startup, was employee number 4, and the 2nd lead developer after the CTO, I got offered a pathetic 0.025% over 4 years. Options like that are disheartening and really don't make you want to stick around for 4 years getting paid dirt to eventually be able to claim your $20k worth of options.

I left and now am getting paid close to triple my old salary with options getting close to 10% in a business model that is far more profitable than the previous. I think lots of people just starting out in the startup scene get taken advantage of and taken for a ride.