[majewsky]

What salary levels are your calculations based on? For a solo founder in Germany, 75k should be enough runway for roughly 2 years, more if their business is at least ramen-profitable, less if they have more employees of course.

[alexbanks]

My salary calcs are based on A.) Primarily west-coast based American SE wages, B.) The presumption that the group already has a "team" (aka more than 1 person) assembled and a product already launched (as per the requirements of the 75k program).

Two people living on 38k a year sounds like a great way to not have legitimate talent apply.

[majewsky]

38k a year is in the range of my actual gross salary as a mid-level software developer in Germany, although it should be noted that I work 70% part-time. It would certainly be enough to cover an entry-level developer or a founder who's willing to take a smaller pay in exchange for the freedom of working on their own project. And that's before we consider startups located in Eastern Europe where cost of living is lower, but you can still find competent developers there.

[alexbanks]

And that may be true, I am just pointing out that trying to "Fix the internet" by pandering to mid level developers seems like wasted effort.