As a 2-times founder, one VC funded and one bootstrapped I think there is a fundamental difference of the world view of a founder and a cash-optimizing employee you're missing.
Startups are just businesses. Business owners value money, but they also value independence and freedom to do what they want to do. The "don't tell me what to do" gene is highly correlated with them. The only resource you can't buy is your time and investing it into your ideas brings a lot of meaning into the daily slog. Also if you have your own company, you decide the rules and people you surround yourself with. If you spend 1/3 of your life working, this is a non-trivial contributor of your quality of life.
This is the first reason. Founders really hate working for other people.
Regarding salaries, the more cash you burn, the less time you have to understand the market and create the product. Salaries are expenses and you need to be very stingy until you get to profitability.
This is the second reason.
And something I've seen in the "startup" crowd. From the VC marketing bullhshit they assume that the "only" way to create a company is "to create the next billion dollar company". It's the game of the VC's, grow and sell. Yes, 3% of Facebook can be worth more than 40% of 5 Million ARR company, but if you multiply it by the chance of creating the next Facebook you'll see that it's riskier and you loose too much control and the first reason you're doing your own thing.
In summary, if you're thinking about short term salaries it's best not to try to do a startup, better find a good paying job and invest in an index fund. This will be safer and on average yield better.