IME it’s very hard to persuade CTOs and good engineers to come for high equity low comp but perhaps you’ll have better luck. From your description you just need

IME it’s very hard to persuade CTOs and good engineers to come for high equity low comp but perhaps you’ll have better luck. From your description you just need someone to build something for you - CTOs tend to be a bit more removed from the coal face and have a wider ranging skill set so I’d focus on just finding someone who can build what you want. And I’d start with one rather than two engineers and pay them better. You need someone product focused too - you just need stuff build quickly to a stage where you can obtain funding