my general rule of thumb is: founder is someone who starts before salaries, employee is someone who is paid a near-market salary on day 1.
the risks of starting before salaries are that you will accumulate a ton of debt (or waste away your savings, or both) for a project that ends up going bust. you will lose many friendships, perhaps even your marriage, because you believe so strongly in an idea that ultimately may or may not work out, and you put 100% of your available time and effort into it.
there's nothing particularly glamorous about that statement i just made. starting a company is hard and it sucks and it usually ends in failure with the founders hating each other.
the risks of starting before salaries are that you will accumulate a ton of debt (or waste away your savings, or both) for a project that ends up going bust. you will lose many friendships, perhaps even your marriage, because you believe so strongly in an idea that ultimately may or may not work out, and you put 100% of your available time and effort into it.
there's nothing particularly glamorous about that statement i just made. starting a company is hard and it sucks and it usually ends in failure with the founders hating each other.