On the other hand, a majority of YC companies over the last year or two raise significant funding pretty quickly. A modest angel round can support a spouse/kids/mortgage lifestyle.
I used to be under the impression that one was obliged to take a low salary while employed by or founding an early-stage startup. Your seemingly sincere comment and an anecdote from a friend who was offered a quite competitive salary are starting to change my mind.
The general rule is that founders should pay themselves as little as possible. For some people, that's $30K, and for others, it's $100K. Just depends on where one is in life.
I'm sorry to have written something that could be misconstrued as saying "there are no startups that get 10MM A rounds", but I was actually making a more subtle point.
