At my last place, my biweekly wage was over 10k, which means that at most you can have about 25 mes, and I am neither a particularly well compensated nor particularly senior engineer. There were many making more than that. Many companies have more than 25 employees.
no, it's not. very few places, much less startups, are paying $260k/year in cash after deductions to a "neither a particularly well compensated nor particularly senior engineer." Take a look at levels.fyi. They'd have to be making something like $400k base, this is pure hyperbole.