sellers who've gotten sizable equity payouts : vent / advice seeking

context -

jan '21 start date, manager left after Q1, i didn't know why but the assumptions were easy enough to take (series A nepotism, plan buy ins, etc) and caught up with said former manager last week to intel / gossip. got more than i bargained for and now officially don't trust the CRO / do not think my "equity discussion at EOY1" is going to be realistic / don't think i'll really get anything of value if it does happen.

i'm not crying (the tech is SICK, am paid well above market, and the industry is legitimately interesting) and know every company is fucked up but my question is this - what's been your best route for getting into an org that gives a fuck about its salespeople / will treat them as they deserve to be? how can you sort through the bullshit without having someone both high up and inside? is it just luck?

off to commit another six figures for june...