Have a chat and see if you can get a commmon understanding or gentlemen’s agreement. You are right the incentives do look like once the company is up and runnin

Have a chat and see if you can get a commmon understanding or gentlemen’s agreement. You are right the incentives do look like once the company is up and running it doesn’t make sense to keep a high salary CTO, perhaps you can raise this concern with them? Or perhaps you both might have some agreement e.g. minimum 3 years as long as you’re doing a good job.