$17.75 million invested is probably beyond the stage of "fledgling". Perhaps "middling"? I will agree that founders' large salaries should come from profit, not

$17.75 million invested is probably beyond the stage of "fledgling". Perhaps "middling"? I will agree that founders' large salaries should come from profit, not investment. Also, you have to imagine that the valuation of the company is somewhere in the neighborhood of 3-4x the amount invested, if not more depending on how recently the last round was. And as a founder it seems reasonable to assume around 10-15% equity remaining after a couple rounds, also assuming a couple other founders with similar stakes. That pegs his shares' value anywhere from $5-10 million. It may just be on paper, but you still count it in "net worth", a term readers of the Financial Post are probably most interested in. And definitely warrants, if the product is successful in its own right to any degree, feeling a bit of "breathing room".