[RIMR]

>Your livelihood is always more valuable than a reputation.

I can't say I agree. There are plenty of instances where your short-term financial situation could be a whole lot less important than your long-term reputation within an industry.

[efriese]

Livelihood encompasses more than just financial. If it were just money most people could get by. The stress on a person and their family while job hunting, especially at the CTO level, can be pretty huge. I would much rather have some runway to find the gig I want rather worry about my reputation.

[gwbas1c]

I get the impression that this is a young guy. CTO of a startup means something different than CTO of an established company.

Most likely, it's a bunch of recent college grads working on someone's pipe dream, but there's no real leadership that would translate to a company.

[jrockway]

I don't think asking your employer to pay you for your work is going to damage your long-term reputation in the industry.

I can only think of one person in the entire world who has damaged their reputation in the programming community enough for me to care.

[st3v3r]

At the same time, any company that would look down on you for doing this is a shitty company.