There were a lot of "ifs" in that comment. Unlikely he has 300k in savings, if he did he wouldn't be scared. Also unlikely his cost of living is low if he lives

There were a lot of "ifs" in that comment. Unlikely he has 300k in savings, if he did he wouldn't be scared. Also unlikely his cost of living is low if he lives anywhere near the valley and has a wife and/or kids. If you have tons of money in the bank and have a really low cost of living, and your business isn't capital intensive, sure you can skip a few paychecks. Even then, the small salary you are taking likely isn't meaningfully impacting the startups runway. Maybe extend it just slightly. And as you are doing it you are lowering your own savings and personal "runway".