Most intelligently run startup should do the same thing. You should be hiring people who will add more value to the business. Often you should be hiring people

Most intelligently run startup should do the same thing. You should be hiring people who will add more value to the business. Often you should be hiring people who are smarter than you. It's the same principle which means if Steve Jobs came to me and said he wanted to be involved in my startup, I'd happily hand over 60% of my equity to him. The 40% I'd be left with, whilst proportionally lower than what I had previously, would be worth far more than what it was before. At the moment I earn my rent + expenses from my business. As and when we close our next round of funding, I'll likely formalise this arrangement (at the moment we're boxing clever with the tax man by paying me in various ways), but I'll definitely pay market + equity for early hires.