I agree with everything else that you said though.
This seems useful, but I don't fully understand it. Are you saying that the VCs will force you to take a high salary, so that they can take a bigger chunk of your company?
And there are other factors. If your compensation becomes a benchmark for the rest of the team, now your company is in real trouble. You can't expect to hire key team members at less than the norm. It just won't happen. VCs know that.
Also, a VC's main job is to put out as much of their committed capital as possible into good deals. Allocating a large part of a preferred equity tranche to fund the maintenance and creation of a solid team is the right thing to do.
And comparing with large companies is not apples to apples. That's a different world; here's an extreme example of that world: http://valleywag.com/tech/greed/the-grotesque-1-salary-251104.php
In the Bay Area, VCs expect and want the founder/CEO to make approximately $150K to $175K per year after the VC round (i.e. Seies A). I have confirmed this by asking VC panels here in Orange County during open-mike sessions.
What should be clearly understood is that you are actually financing a part of that compensation via your significant equity dilution that would result from the new vesting schedule put in place by the VC! You typically can't escape this new vesting if you want VC money...which is why PG's question about how much cash will you take to just walk away from it has real substance behind it.