[rdl]

A lot of founders pay themselves $50-80k/yr once they raise their seed round, and raise funding during YC. Assuming you could survive on 80k/yr salary (which is surprisingly hard in the Bay Area, if you have kids; marry a doctor seems to be a good solution here), I don't see why it should be a problem.

80k/yr plus 30-80% equity in a company, given that YC boosts the valuation, increases odds of success, etc., seems like a decent tradeoff for a mid-career person. The exception might be someone who has a time-limited alternative income source. If I were making $10-20mm/yr as a starting quarterback, I'd probably wait until I got injured or too old to throw a ball to do YC.