[AndrewKemendo]

>If you are a founder of a funded company, you get a salary the same as everyone else.

Depends on the stage from what I have seen. Most of the other founders I know, including myself, take 10-15% less salary than many of the employees. Also once funded, investors will expect founders will take a haircut for a while.

[dean]

10-15% less salary does not equal "several magnitudes" more risk. To my mind, for a funded company, the risk is the same for founders and employees. The worst that can happen for both is unemployment.

[rco8786]

First, you're ignoring all the risk a founder has already taken just to get to a funded state.

Second, many times(always?) a founder has personal savings wrapped up in the company.

Third, an employee can always just quit and find a new job. The founder is much more tightly bound to his/her company because of obligations to investors, other employees, clients, etc. To say that "the worst case scenario" for both is unemployment is true, but you're ignoring many other factors that make it far more likely for the founder to be stuck going down with the ship while employee walks away Scott free.

[dottedmag]

How many of those factors are purely emotional/psychological/imagined ones?

One trick to figure it out is to imagine founder being hit by bus: who will be hurt? Will family be hurt (besides losing the founder himself)? Employees? Clients? Investors? Anyone else?

[mbesto]

Agreed. Most founders I know (in SV) take $50-80k in the first 1-2 years.

[dottedmag]

Well, one funded startup I know pays founders 250% of the typical engineer's pay. But it is a wildly successful enterprise though (to say the least).