> Find a really good developer and let them use whatever they like. Unfortunately, it's rare that a company can identify a really good developer. Also, trusti

> Find a really good developer and let them use whatever they like. Unfortunately, it's rare that a company can identify a really good developer. Also, trusting a developer to choose the programming language for a project might not be a good idea right now, due to a pervasive industry culture of resume-driven-development and job-hopping. (Unless "really good developer" implies conscientious professionalism and alignment with business needs, and you're able to discern that.) > A motivated, highly competent developer with an eye on the vision and skin in the game is the real "secret weapon" Agreed. Though founders tend to think they deserve 20x+ the equity of even first hire engineers. To the point that even your typical early hire is probably best off freshening up their resume keywords (via resume-driven-development), and job-hopping as soon as a better compensation package comes along (maybe after vesting cliff). The founder already signaled that they think the developer is a commodity, not a secret weapon of the company. That's not motivation for the hire to be aligned with company success, much less beyond.