[p4wnc6]

I agree specialists will not be satisfied with just doing generalist work without any other offsetting compensation, but this is why I said you have to pay them well and be very flexible about work style and work environment. You're already selecting for specialists who were open enough to the idea of working at a start-up that they even applied at all. That self-selects for some things, and an open mind towards generalist work is probably part of it. But just because they are open to the idea of sacrificing time they could otherwise have spent gaining more specialist experience in order to do early-on generalist work for your start-up, that doesn't mean they'll do it cheaply or be willing to fit into cultural situations they don't feel compatible with.

It's hard for me to believe most start-ups can really say anything conclusive about the quality of early-on specialists, because so few start-ups are willing to be flexible with office layouts, introvert v. extrovert working styles, and many other things. If a start-up is simultaneously rigid about those types of things and also claiming they can't get a good early-on specialist, well it's no surprise why they can't.

For legitimately cash-strapped start-ups, I think your point would hold true. Even if they are very flexible, they just won't be able to afford a good early-on specialist at all, even such a specialist who is already sympathetic to start-up lifestyle and willing to trade some salary for flexibility on certain working conditions won't go for it.