Question regarding salary... I'm not sure if I'm wrong but when was looking for a new job back in 2004-2005, I cannot recall a single startup which was recruiting engineers and offering salary below market rate and they end up being successful.
As far as I remember, when Facebook was a startup (~2006) they were offering market rate salary. Were they?
"There's no shortage of smart, hardworking engineers. There's a shortage of smart, hardworking engineers willing to work for very little money." ~ David "Pardo" Keppel
I've known several bootstrapped startups that did pretty okay paying below-market wages to Engineers.
On the other hand, the Engineers taking those below-market wages? Their reward is usually something like market-rate salaries. It's a good deal for people that have been unemployed for a long time or that otherwise have a difficult time landing market-rate jobs, but for people that are both good and confident, it's a pretty bum deal.
As far as I remember, when Facebook was a startup (~2006) they were offering market rate salary. Were they?