Just remember that 1.25% of a pre-funded startup is worth very little. If you're able to bootstrap for 5 years and sell the thing for $10MM you're looking at s

Just remember that 1.25% of a pre-funded startup is worth very little. If you're able to bootstrap for 5 years and sell the thing for $10MM you're looking at something like $100K. If you raise money and sell for $50MM you'll end up with something similar (after the dilution and liquidation preferences). The cost of taking a half-salary can add up quickly. For more data, check out http://compstudy.com/ http://compstudy.com/. It's an annual survey of startup compensation. This year there were over 1000 companies that participated in the survey and there was a huge jump in pre-VC funded companies.