They do not pay competitively, especially for people that live in California. There's a ~5-10x cost of housing difference between where I live now (Texas) and

They do not pay competitively, especially for people that live in California. There's a ~5-10x cost of housing difference between where I live now (Texas) and where I lived in California. $22k would not make up that difference. They're denying themselves access to better people because they can't avoid politics without using blunt instruments. That gives me less rather than more faith in the management. Their base salaries aren't even competitive for a middle-of-the-road remote expat programmer working out of Thailand. That having been said, I'm all for more experimentation. Good on them for being willing to take a risk and be open about it.