I'm twenty-three and I would turn them down without thinking twice. I get double that and only have to work the expected 40 at my job and there isn't any pressure to put in more hours than that.

I'm surprised that you could get anyone for that kind of money. I wouldn't have taken it 15 years ago, either.

If people are willing to take so little, it does mean that I could finance a pretty decent startup for a little while without significantly damaging my savings. New information to me.

30000/(80*48) --> whopping 7.8125/hr really ??

That shows a little problem, in that its probably not terribly difficult to find a "real employer" or some contract work paying over $16/hr 40 hrs/wk and then do something even cooler than the startup during your 40 hours "off".

If the startup is only looking for $7/hr caliber of employee, if you're worried about them making it big and missing out, get a "real" $30/hr job 40 hrs a week and out of that income hire a $7/hr noob to keep the startup entertained while you're at your real job. Essentially, subcontract your job.

Depending on holidays (likely bare minimum) and vacation (likely none), that would only be minimum wage.

I made more than that 15 years ago as a very junior developer in a very interesting startup.

That's not ageism, that's idiocy. (barring some great equity offer) No business prepared to pay that will function for long, as it suggests inadequate capitalization.

I was willing to accept the "we have a small budget and need 80 hour weeks", but they still preferred to hire a younger person and gave him a decent salary

They don't need 80 hour weeks. That just underscores the irrationality of these employers.

If developers honestly track their time, I'd be surprised if many who claim to be doing 60-80 hours a week are doing more than 8 hours a day of productive work. I'm not talking about coding. I'm just talking about doing work related things that aren't watching Youtube and writing on HN.

I got kind of annoyed at a buddy of mine would humble-brag about staying until midnight to get things done. Of course, he arrived at 11, made coffee and surfed until lunch, and then got down to work around 1:30 or so. While working, he'd have a Youtube window open continuously on a second monitor, and be bidding on penny auctions, etc.

He's a great guy, and got a lot of stuff done. But he basically worked an 8 hour day.

That sounds like a bad offer no matter your age, health, marital status, and so on. 30K/year, 80 hours a week and (I assume) no equity? Pass.