While I consider myself to be pretty frugal and basically agree with you, if he lives in the bay area 300k is certainly not able to support him 4 years without

While I consider myself to be pretty frugal and basically agree with you, if he lives in the bay area 300k is certainly not able to support him 4 years without being seriously frugal. Like, having several roommates and no social life. An entry level engineer here is easily making 75k plus. Somebody mid level is probably looking at a median income around 125k. That doesn't mean you need that much to live, but as a supporter I don't expect him to live on ramen in the tenderloin. I want skilled and talented engineers to build OSS products like this. I don't mind paying for that. If all goes well i'll use his product to support my career and make a lot of money. There's enough to go around to properly compensate him for his experience, labor, and vision. Just my $0.02