Here's a recent podcast episode from Minds Capital (Will Smith, Acquiring Minds) with an executive at Salt Creek Capital. You may want to listen to that: redacted

They typically ask for the executive to contribute an equity investment, usually over $100k, as a way of aligning interests. For it to make sense, you'd have to consider the value of access to their deal platform to be very substantial. They should be providing a pro-forma of the economics of a deal to help you do this math (and calculate and add in exit participation), and that would clarify a lot. Factoring in what you can do yourself without the relationship, it's reasonable to the skeptical that the value the executive partners receive is meaningful. The language and terms of the actual executive partnership agreement should clarify it, though.