Communism does often work well in small, close-knit groups, and I would certainly hope that the founders of a startup living on VC money would fall into that category.

Yeah, I didn't mean it as a criticism, just was surprised/amused to see it in a VC-backed company. My impression is that a more Randian spirit is somewhat more common, which views anything altruistic as being screwed. I don't have any survey data, but my guess is that a more common arrangement is based on some sort of swap, e.g. the young/no-dependents co-founder who can afford to take a lower salary might negotiate to work for 50% of the other co-founders' salaries, but gets something in return, e.g. an extra equity share--- as opposed to just taking a lower salary for the good of the company.

I don't actually have any problem with the principle the slogan represents, though. IMO the main problems with it are implementation, since there's no way to base a whole country's economy around it without an authoritarian government enforcing who gets what. That's obviously not an issue with voluntary arrangements in smaller groups.

Wait until you hear the awesome propaganda music we play every morning.

And when the person who can contribute the least has the biggest financial needs, fun things happen.

I bet the above company does plan on some time in the future; having more "normal" and "market based" salaries; otherwise they could have worked anywhere for below market wages. They have to have a plan for making more money down the road that won't depend on their needs; but value.

Of course. If revenues begin to cover our own salaries, then we'll increase to market rates. But until then, we're all committed to making our seed round last as long as humanly possible.