"I don't know the founders but I can assume that if they would have work somewhere else they had much higher salary/ benefits etc"
I think you'd be surprised. The A-round term sheets I've had come my way over the years specified a salary for founders bigger than any I've ever received working for other companies. It was more of a suggestion than a requirement of the deal, I think, but it gave some clues about the salaries the investors would be comfortable with the founders being paid. It was always generous. Not "C-level at Google" high, but certainly better than "low or mid-level developer at almost any company in the US, including good ones".
By the time you are raising millions of dollars, you are drawing a decent salary. Maybe you could make more somewhere else, but I believe it's more likely you'd make less.
I think you'd be surprised. The A-round term sheets I've had come my way over the years specified a salary for founders bigger than any I've ever received working for other companies. It was more of a suggestion than a requirement of the deal, I think, but it gave some clues about the salaries the investors would be comfortable with the founders being paid. It was always generous. Not "C-level at Google" high, but certainly better than "low or mid-level developer at almost any company in the US, including good ones".
By the time you are raising millions of dollars, you are drawing a decent salary. Maybe you could make more somewhere else, but I believe it's more likely you'd make less.