You bring up a good and interesting point.<p>From what I&#x27;ve seen, startups almost always pay less than market, but they make up for it in four different ways:<p>1. Quality of life and work: employees at startups get to touch more things, work on more exciting projects, eat free food, play ping pong, be a part of a tight-knit culture, etc. A lot of people highly value this, and I don&#x27;t blame them!<p>2. Employees mistakenly overestimating the value of their options, their probability of success, and the uniqueness of the startup culture.<p>3. Related to both #1 and #2, hiring employees that don&#x27;t care about money and&#x2F;or haven&#x27;t taken finance 101.<p>4. Related to #1, #2, and #3: hiring employees that are so excited about the startup that they don&#x27;t care about the deal they&#x27;re getting.<p>I&#x27;ve NEVER seen a good engineer get a better offer at a startup than he&#x2F;she would&#x27;ve gotten at a large company, but it&#x27;s certainly possible.