Wouldn’t a high salary align interests too? Given how much people discount the future it should actually be cheaper.<p>Interesting when I first started my business I paid well over the industry norms. I later tried moving to a model where employees (voluntarily) were able to trade in this high salary for a normal salary and a significant equity share (between 2% and 5% without vesting or a cliff). None of my employees wanted the trade. In the long run it worked out well for me, but I was surprised at the time.