How would this translate to salary? Are you saying you'd get a loan on your portion of the equity at full value and the company would only pay you the interest required to cover that loan?
Something like that yes. Mind you some jurisdictions have laws around “reasonable salary” so always important to check these things with a professional first.
For a more fun take: Watch WeCrash and notice how the protagonist magics 100mil for personal use after raising the huge Softbank round … and what happens to that liquidity when an IPO doesn’t materialize.
Alas I’ve never been wealthy enough to see how this works in practice. At my level (can borrow about 4 months worth of living cost) you do have to pay it off eventually, you just get quite favorable interest rates in the meantime.
For a more fun take: Watch WeCrash and notice how the protagonist magics 100mil for personal use after raising the huge Softbank round … and what happens to that liquidity when an IPO doesn’t materialize.