That venture deals book is about founders negotiating with VCs, and probably mentions the "rookie mistake" of the founders getting stuck with paying for the option pool.
We're talking about something different here - a potential hire joining a company and asking for "X% of the company". If the company agrees to this, then the legal document better not say you got X% of the employee option pool. That kind of shit is obviously going to ruin your employee's trust, because it's extremely fucking shady. I would immediately get the impression that the company/founders are big scammers.
The book is about VC period. Authors switch sides in perspective throughout. The rookie mistake, covered at length in the book, was not knowing the difference between the cap table, employee options pool, and fully diluted shares. See, e.g., Appendix A.
We're talking about something different here - a potential hire joining a company and asking for "X% of the company". If the company agrees to this, then the legal document better not say you got X% of the employee option pool. That kind of shit is obviously going to ruin your employee's trust, because it's extremely fucking shady. I would immediately get the impression that the company/founders are big scammers.