In theory, you could pay yourself 2x for 6 months, then 0x for 6 months if the startup lacks money but seems worth persisting at. I think it's not especially rare for founders to work for temporarily zero pay early on. Seems like the main difference between that and "1x for 12 months" is providing an incentive to yourself for the last 6 months, and signaling that to others.
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In theory, you could pay yourself 2x for 6 months, then 0x for 6 months if the startup lacks money but seems worth persisting at. I think it's not especially rare for founders to work for temporarily zero pay early on. Seems like the main difference between that and "1x for 12 months" is providing an incentive to yourself for the last 6 months, and signaling that to others.