Comment by tptacek

I'm not sure austerity wages for founders are really a thing anymore. Serious investors understand that team turnover is as or more scary than fiscal drama.

There was a longstanding "ramen profitable" ethos on HN, but part of that is rooted in a much older set of YC deal terms and lower expectations for seed rounds. But YC is now one of the principal components of all tech startup funding, the standard terms are much better, syndicated seed rounds have gotten pretty big; I think you're expected not to be silly about comp, but I don't think people are looking for you to signal commitment or virtue or asceticism with your comp package.

If you can't pay yourself a real comp package, something is probably wrong with your business.