> See amazons de facto policy of give the top tier best benefits, raised and comp and to hell with the rest. I think the last part of that is really important.

> See amazons de facto policy of give the top tier best benefits, raised and comp and to hell with the rest. I think the last part of that is really important. Your comment made me think back to 2002 when I was playing a game called Diablo II. I used to substantially overpay for things because the things I were buying helped me make 10x the amount I was investing (all in game currency). I didn't care that I was buying things for 2-3x what others were offering to pay. Salary and the value you produce (direct or indirect) is the same deal. If an employee generates a million dollars of value a year, paying them 300k instead of 150k is still one of the best investments you can ask for -- especially if you amplify this to 10 developers. Now you're talking about making 10 million dollars while only "overpaying" 1.5 million. That's a ~6.5x return.