Work for a public company and get paid in real equity or start your own company if you want to burn yourself out.

Anything less is a monumental waste of time and energy.

Looks like you’re a founder based on your profile so you’ve also figured this out.

Burnout is: exhaustion, inefficacy and depersonalization. The crash happens when inefficacy kicks because that’s very market-dependent and not really something anyone can control. The easiest of those to control is exhaustion but it’s also nigh-impossible to measure. So I think our best bet is to keep a close eye on depersonalization and shift gears immediately if that ever happens.

Frankly this sounds like a cult mentality that I would cautiously endure for a lucrative salary.