This is mostly a US only thing, outside of it there are very few places where this would even be an option.

Sure but this company is headquartered and (mostly) founded in San Francisco. So... stock options from such a company would be standard as far as location go.

afaik zappier is mostly remote

It’s a very powerful way to align incentives. It results in a major reduction in political arguments and a major increase in productivity. It’s a long-term incentive, so it causes employees to take good risks for the customer even if they won’t be apparent today.

Stock is literal ownership and it eases “ownership problems” proportionate to the meaningfulness of the expected value of the stock to the employeee-owner. It’s a powerful tool for increasing teamwork.

What stage are companies at when you get the lottery tickets? And by lottery tickets do you mean options or equity?