They should, and if one chooses not to take a salary because he can afford it, he should be getting equivalent equity. I don't know why this "garage myth" gets

They should, and if one chooses not to take a salary because he can afford it, he should be getting equivalent equity. I don't know why this "garage myth" gets so much romance. It works for rich kids who can fall back on their parents, for students, extremely well-established people who have lots of savings and connections to fall back on, and for people who can time-travel back to the time when rents were reasonable in Silicon Valley, Boston and New York. In practice, you cannot have long-standing (over 6 months) financial pressure and keep up the level of job performance that a startup demands. It does not work that way.