This article helped me clarify an interesting contradiction in my own motives. As a founder I'd much rather pay market rates and hold on to equity - 0.5% incentive doesn't hurt me but my hackles raise at 10% or more. (The state of my hackles is not correlated to how fair the compensation is, BTW - it's just greed.)
On the other hand, even more than getting the top 2% unicorn squad, I want engineers who believe in the business. Taking equity in lieu of salary is a sort of screen for this, and I think that's why I've structured things that way in the past.
I agree with the article that it's not fair to the first N employees, though.
On the other hand, even more than getting the top 2% unicorn squad, I want engineers who believe in the business. Taking equity in lieu of salary is a sort of screen for this, and I think that's why I've structured things that way in the past.
I agree with the article that it's not fair to the first N employees, though.