This is highly unusual and takes away any incentive to grow the company. Founder's Stock is the holy grail of Silicon Valley. However, look at the folks who started Apple or Microsoft or Netscape. These are the heroes and they made a lot of people, who joined the firm prior to its public offering, very wealthy. Pay Another thing to consider is when salary reviews are done.
Some companies have focal reviews, which means everybody gets reviewed at the same time each year.
Other firms use anniversary-date reviews, which means you get your evaluation each year on your hire date. However, if you joined the company late in the year, you may not get as big an increase as those who started earlier in the year. It's a thing called budgets. Departments usually run out of money about September. So, if your review is due about that time, or later, you may get shortchanged.