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by mikegagnon 4668 days ago
> It seems like you're implying that these non-profit founders put a lot of weight in salary as a consideration to whether or not they pursue their vision.

I was implicitly assuming founders of non-profits care about salary. I think it's very admirable that there are people willing to forsake salary for a greater social good. It sounds like this might describe the Watsi crowd.

I am only intimately familiar with one non-profit, whose founder spent years launching her non-profit --- with the financial support of her spouse's salary. I have heard anecdotally of other non-profits whose launch was only possible because the founder was financially supported outside of the non-profit.

But it doesn't have to be this way. I don't think it's intrinsic that potential founders must choose between salary and launching a non-profit. For example, founders could make a salary working part-time for for-profit companies and spend the rest of their time running their non-profits.

Maybe YC could help facilitate such work relationships. I think it would grow the pool of people willing to pursue non-profit endeavors.