At that stage, you're not taking a salary, so your point is moot. This is about startups that can afford to pay founders a salary, and those startups have eith

At that stage, you're not taking a salary, so your point is moot. This is about startups that can afford to pay founders a salary, and those startups have either raised money at a specific value or are profitable enough that you can't claim the equity is worth $0.