I worked at a startup that tried that. Within 4 months, a good chunk of the best tech people were gone. Within 12 months they had gone under. Maybe for an econ

I worked at a startup that tried that. Within 4 months, a good chunk of the best tech people were gone. Within 12 months they had gone under. Maybe for an economy-wide recession where your workers have no other options. But if it's just startup risk that are making you founder, you're basically guaranteeing a death spiral. There is some chance if you make it a fixed-term paycut with a payback with interest, but you better have a real cult leader as CEO to get people onboard with something complicated instead of just getting a job at Google.