For an avid reader of HN, I'm definitely very uninformed when it comes to the startup scene. It's entirely possible that I'm dead wrong about the poll and ~40-50% of founders don't take a salary.

I guess my post spends a bit too much time speculating about whether the votes are fake and too little time asking the question that I care about: I'm honestly very curious what folks who are making very little money and living in (presumably) very expensive places do to get by.