I agree. I've taken a salary significantly less than market value after an acquisition and would never do it again. I actually think it caused other people at the company who weren't involved in the deal to discount my ongoing contribution. Whether that was true or not, you should always be paid what you are worth.
On earn-out, I've never seen a company actually hit their earn-out numbers. IMHO, they're usually set up to get the management or shareholders to accept a smaller valuation than they would otherwise. And the earn-out numbers are usually based on the best-case scenarios being presented by the company being acquired. ;) The scenarios were somewhat unrealistic, especially considering the major disruption of going through an acquisition, and possibly increased levels of big-company-bullshit it may take to get sales closed. In some cases, the fictional earnout values were obvious face saving measures for executives and the board.
On earn-out, I've never seen a company actually hit their earn-out numbers. IMHO, they're usually set up to get the management or shareholders to accept a smaller valuation than they would otherwise. And the earn-out numbers are usually based on the best-case scenarios being presented by the company being acquired. ;) The scenarios were somewhat unrealistic, especially considering the major disruption of going through an acquisition, and possibly increased levels of big-company-bullshit it may take to get sales closed. In some cases, the fictional earnout values were obvious face saving measures for executives and the board.