“When employees were recruited to work at Mailchimp there was a common refrain from hiring managers: No, you are not going to get equity, but you will get to be part of a scrappy company that fights for the little guy and we will never be acquired or go public.”
The pitch was no equity because there would never be an exit. Then the founders sold to Intuit for about $12 billion and became two of the richest people in America. The staff got the “scrappy company” story. The founders got the money. A promise to never sell is only a recruiting line until someone offers enough.