Salaries are for subsistence
Back home recharged, the reset gets specified: routine, timers, 80% of everything into Severo, and a bootstrapping bet that the $5,000 can make it profitable in three months. The delicate part is a policy: the million-peso salary exists for survival, so if a partner lands a job, his million returns to the company, because nobody in a startup earns until it does.
// trace: where this idea came from
- ↳ video diary @ 9:02 (80% Severo, 20% lo demás)
- ↳ video diary @ 12:24 (la política: si consigue trabajo, no hay millón)
- ↳ Entry 202-1: Five thousand for five percent (la inversión que este plan administra)
The trip’s verdict is visible on camera: the last five videos carried a low-grade depression, mornings he didn’t want to wake into ▸ 7:02, and the family reset recharged the batteries ▸ 8:01. So the return gets engineered, not hoped for: routine back ▸ 8:10, timers on tasks ▸ 8:33, and an explicit allocation: 80% of effort into Severo, 20% into everything else ▸ 9:02.
The financial thesis on the new investment is deliberately tight-fisted: the million-a-month salaries are low on purpose, because the point is stretching the money and showing the investor returns ▸ 9:35. His bet, stated for the record: with testing, learning, and doing things right, Severo can reach profitability in about three months ▸ 10:07.
el millón es manutención, no sueldo; esa es toda la política →
The delicate conversation is drafted out loud before it happens. Carlos has been job-hunting, and if he lands one, the policy follows from first principles: the million exists for manutención, survival while you give the company your days, so a partner with outside income doesn’t draw it ▸ 12:24. “Normalmente en una startup tú no ganas hasta que ya tengas beneficios” ▸ 13:37; the unpaid million returns to the company’s runway ▸ 14:03, and equity keeps everyone whole when the app finally earns ▸ 14:17. He knows the words will need choosing; the principle he refuses to soften. Meanwhile the small dignities the money restores get their own list: the gym is payable again ▸ 15:21, Julia starts saving toward her driver’s license and a ticket to see her mother in Brazil ▸ 15:30. Poverty’s exit is itemized…