I've had toxic clients. This was not a toxic client. I knew exactly how much was in the business bank account. There were no secrets about the state of the b

I've had toxic clients. This was not a toxic client. I knew exactly how much was in the business bank account. There were no secrets about the state of the business. I knew how it had arrived at the state it did as well, and its development and investment history. The developer I was replacing had just died, before the product was ready. He was a good friend. I could either take it on and try to make it work or not. They weren't underpaying due to failure to value me. They were underpaying because we mutually agreed the project was worth it, and there was the pot of money that there was. So I took on that risk on full knowledge as (replacement) employee #1. Yes, that's a business risk.