Let's assume youre stepping into your 5th grade. Parents tell you that they have 10 chocolates in the fridge and if you complete all the homework, pass exams with distinction and make them proud, they will give 10 chocolates and also extra.
So you work your ass off and kill your homework and exams.
If you have good parents, they will give you 2 chocolates per milestone [ESOPs buyback].
If you have good and rich parents, they will do as promised [company going IPO].
Very common scenario - If you have bad parents, they will continue promising the existence of chocolates to motivate you but in reality there are no chocolates [company not doing buyback nor going IPO. ESOPs are just paper money with no value].