Anyone that is working for a startup should be invested in getting the best value out of the shareholders. This is usually the case because they themselves own a stake in the company in some form or another.
You should be paying your staff what they're worth and not short sell them because you're worried about them feeling "fat and happy." That's simply ridiculous.
If they themselves are not a shareholder then they should be working towards something. Is that a raise? Maybe that is equity? Whatever the incentive you can't just hire people and expect that they're going to live at the office without adequate compensation.
I believe there is a dominant meme in business techniques that drives startup bosses to adopt a slavedriver's attitude. I mean, look at the words themselves: "happy" is used in a negative sense.
You should be paying your staff what they're worth and not short sell them because you're worried about them feeling "fat and happy." That's simply ridiculous.
If they themselves are not a shareholder then they should be working towards something. Is that a raise? Maybe that is equity? Whatever the incentive you can't just hire people and expect that they're going to live at the office without adequate compensation.