The 300k thing is interesting because it speaks to how the concept of a "startup" has evolved. Everything he says is correct in the sense that qualified developers aren't going to come to your startup for below market wages or equity, and if you're going out into the market to hire, you have to pay. This is from personal experience.

Otoh, going into the labor market and trying to buy a team is not really a traditional early stage startup activity, in the sense that you'd normally expect the founding team to take this on and pay themselves a minimum living wage. At least in the startup bubble, the concept seems to have shifted from bootstrap in the garage to get money and buy everything, while also producing job security and career growth and the other stuff generic labor market participants want.

I do agree, the worst idea is to try and underpay or use (truly) unqualified people