

Salaries Are For Employees, Not Founders - brittanywalker
http://founderdating.com/salaries-are-for-employees-not-founders/

======
tptacek
Founders do not pay for equity by foregoing salary. They earn equity by
assuming the downside risks and opportunity costs of starting a company. A
reduced salary might be part of that package of risks and costs, but it's
surely not the only part.

------
Apreche
If you want labor, you must pay for it.

You can't pay for it with lottery tickets, also known as equity. You can't pay
for it with exposure. You can't pay for it with experience.

You can only pay with cold hard cash. The landlord only accepts little pieces
of paper with pictures of dead presidents on them. So if someone is going to
work many hours a day, founder or otherwise, they need an absolute guarantee
that they will receive many such pictures in exchange for that work.

Period.

------
ulfw
And who are those founders supposed to consist of? Exclusively early-20 year
olds living with their parents? Because my landlord sure as hell is not gonna
accept 'equity' for rent. Neither does my grocery store or car financing
company. Silly.

------
bicx
Most of us can't really afford to work the idealistic "Not in it for the
money" career for long, and every startup has to rethink this mentality at
some point in its life. It's better to be realistic early on instead of
waiting for a crisis. Paying your founders doesn't mean your business will be
fueled by greed. It just means that food and rent costs money.

------
clavalle
That philosophy certainly shrinks the pool of potential founders.

~~~
ulfw
Yea by like >90%

------
nasalgoat
I don't know about anyone else, but I have bills to pay.

This whole "work for equity" line is just another example of the common "work
for exposure" you see in the creative fields. It's just someone trying to get
something for nothing. I wish it would stop.

