The delta between first employee and founders is wildly underplayed in this article.
In our case: one founder worked unpaid for almost a year. After incorporating, we both continue to work much longer hours than our first eng hire. In addition, our first hire walked on to a market salary, health insurance, and a company with paying customers and $3m in the bank. ie at least an order of magnitude risk reduction. Both founders continue to take much less salary than the first employee.
In our case: one founder worked unpaid for almost a year. After incorporating, we both continue to work much longer hours than our first eng hire. In addition, our first hire walked on to a market salary, health insurance, and a company with paying customers and $3m in the bank. ie at least an order of magnitude risk reduction. Both founders continue to take much less salary than the first employee.