I think the goal of startups hiring overqualified people is to prevent those awkward growing pains as you transition from a small startup to a company that has

I think the goal of startups hiring overqualified people is to prevent those awkward growing pains as you transition from a small startup to a company that has recurring customers. That's right in the middle of their growth phase, so they want to avoid the instability associated with paying down tech debt then. Whether that's enough to justify paying such high salaries at an early phase, I don't know. If you aren't planning on some kind of hyper growth phase, it's probably not. Even if you are, you might do alright without. Reddit survived its stability issues (although I do think they pay fairly well, though not FAANG).