(The exit is when you convert your equity in your company into cash or equity in another, larger company.)

Most tech businesses are built to be sold. The number of businesses that actually exist for more than 5-10 years is tiny compared to the number that are started. The number of founders who either want to or are capable of running a business for that long is also tiny. There's nothing wrong with selling a business, right? Do founders worry about what happens to their employees when the business is sold? I don't know. I haven't reached that stage yet. I suppose that ideally, the employees are sucked into the purchasing company. A lot of people see selling a company as bad, but to a founder, it's good.

You probably won't make much money until you sell. Let's face it, the exit is the big deal, financially. A good exit can make you wealthy on a scale that lawyers, doctors, and other high-paid professionals will never reach. That's when you are supposed to buy a Ferrarri. And why, in the mean time, would you take a higher pay now for less equity later? After all, you're the founder, so you must believe that the value when you sell is going to be high. So, of course, you should pay yourself a living wage for now and keep as much equity as you can.

Hanging onto equity is tough, and getting paid on exit is tough too. I seem to have met a lot of entrepreneurs and a lot fewer who actually have gotten properly paid. Or maybe they just haven't bought expensive cars? I don't know, but my impression is that most entrepreneurs - their first business venture doesn't turn out big. Second, or third, but not first. For example one of my advisors Charles had his first (maybe second?) business not work out at all. Then his second (third?) paid really well. (I hope to be the exception.... but that's how I always think.)

In fact, if you exit and your stock is tied up in someone else's company, you can STILL be waiting to get your cash out after the exit for even longer.

Of course you're not doing it for the money, but you are, sort of, doing it for the money, aren't you? I mean, changing the world is more important, but, hey, it's a lot easier to change the world when you are rich and powerful.