[lifeisstillgood]

That's fairly dangerous advice - sacrifice if he has a sizeable chunk of equity (>20%) then yes as the upside is big. But an early stage hire will have to work as hard as the founders for basically sod all equity reward if things go well.

There is nothing wrong in working hard and making a name for yourself in a start up that does well. But be aware it is deferring actual real money for the next start up.