I think you've mischaracterized my argument. I've not said anything about amount here - my position (farther down, I think) is that founders should pay themsel

I think you've mischaracterized my argument. I've not said anything about amount here - my position (farther down, I think) is that founders should pay themselves merely the minimum salary required to qualify for group health insurance. (Usually, it takes two employees, at least in most states.) I'm pretty sure that we actually agree about this, generally; my point is that having a sense of urgency that comes about from recognizing that the company is unprofitable due to salary expenses has, in my limited experience, done wonders to get people off of needless "optimizations" and onto making stuff people want.