The quote I think you're using to say "this is for startups":
> We pay you (or your company) $3000 a month.
In contrast to the multitude of other more personal references:
> We'll pay you $3000/mo
> Dark is a new tool to help you build a complete scalable app in an afternoon.
How many startups are working on "building an app in an afternoon"?
> You come to the office
> You build the backend
I don't think it's particularly fair to say "a lot of people didn't read the article" and that it is somehow obvious that this is aimed directly at startups, not individuals or otherwise.
Of course, no, it's not a livable wage. It's to me, more a "beta tester stipend" with a few bonuses. Can it realistically work for someone as a sole "job"? No, not without external support or a nest egg.
But I don't think that shows conclusively that they're looking to pay startups to work from their offices.
I guess the important point here is you're not supposed to quit your day job with the expectation that Dark will pay you a livable wage to build your pet project.
I absolutely agree, I think phrasing it as a stipend/some other offer than what sounds like a salary would help a huge deal.
If you're complaining that $3k isn't enough to live in SF, you missed the point. Dark isn't trying to pay you a $3k salary. They're not looking to hire someone to build a random app. They're looking for an employee of some other startup to camp out in their office for 3 months and use Dark to build the backend for that startup, and they will pay $3k/mo to do this. Presumably that money goes to the startup, not to the employee directly. The employee will get whatever compensation from their own startup they would have gotten without working out of the Dark offices.