I think you are 100% right. However, in the current job market you really cannot hire without offering market rate. The perks are nice and part of classical ne

I think you are 100% right. However, in the current job market you really cannot hire without offering market rate. The perks are nice and part of classical negotiation game. The "culture fit crap" is their loss - the job market is very competitive now. So I don't think any reasonable startup is offering salary below market rate. But, the main point I want to say is that the critical problem now is that all these new companies do not offer anything additional to compensation: no learning, no great mentorship, etc. Their entire secret sauce is in their business model: not in technology or software product. So young engineers will not learn new technologies, algorithms, etc. and have great mentors. So the first thing I tell to my younger colleges is to find a job in some software company - preferably related to systems, networking, and storage. That where you find very very interesting projects (that you can put on your resume) and have great mentors.