> There are people who tell startups that they should hire the most senior people that they can find.

When I was involved in a management buyout we went to loads of people to get advice, funding, resources, etc. Without exception the funding people - government sponsored in some cases, independent VCs in others - said that we were light on management skills (which we were) and we needed to find someone to fill the gap.

They then went on to suggest people who were demanding ukp30k for one day a week, plus equity. Here we were putting everything we had into this, and these people were insisting on a full living wage for 1 day a week, plus a piece of the profits pie.

OK, we weren't exactly a startup, but this "advice" really is given.