This is excessively cynical, for two reasons; in the Buffer model, the CEO's pay is subject to the formula too, and in a startup where people are getting equity

This is excessively cynical, for two reasons; in the Buffer model, the CEO's pay is subject to the formula too, and in a startup where people are getting equity, your financial outcome is tied to the success of the company, and your main risk is the failure of the company, not some faceless person siphoning the dollars off. Whenever you sell your labor, obviously the buyer of that labor thinks it's worth more than what they're paying for it, otherwise they wouldn't do it. So you're always working for someone else to make money unless you own your own thing. It's just a question of degree there.