[moe]

Wait, what?

Most founders I know would pay themselves a salary after the first funding round. A small one perhaps, but I don't think the difference is as big as you make it out to be. Especially when you consider that the first engineer in a startup gets at least the same workload as the founders.

[tzs]

That assumes there is a round of funding. Not all startups are in the kind of sexy areas that cause VCs to throw money at them. Some are funded by the savings of the founder (and sometimes a second or third mortgage on his house). At that kind of startup, the founder often only gets paid his salary if the company has profits.