Yeah, just lie, who cares? ...

If you want $200k but are making $150, just say you are looking for a salary around $200k. If they ask again how much you make presently, you can say "I negotiated my present salary years ago, it's not relevant to the value I provide now, I'm sure you understand".

I'm not going to be pushed into lying and making things up out of expediency. YMMV.

i engage people with my own self expectations in mind. i believe that's what makes me an effective leader. i could be wrong.

i have not, and i would never in a million years ask someone what they currently make. why would i ever do that? what's the point? you might as well ask them about the size of their genitalia.

the range of bullshit answers you will receive, even from the lowest level of positions, just means you're only fooling yourself if you ask these kinds of questions. just ask for what they want. lying about that won't benefit them, it will only benefit me.

I really do agree with you. But somewhere in my late 20's I made the conscious decision to acquit myself with honesty as much as I possibly can. If you find the question so outlandish why not just say "I'm sorry, I don't find that question appropriate."?

The reason you're a co-founder is because you take risks and are willing to push the limits of what's socially acceptable, and have face-to-face discussions about personally-difficult topics.

Most engineers want to "stay within the rules", which is why they get walked on.

(I'm not for one second saying you do that, personally)

well, no. the reason i'm a co-founder is because i want to make a shitload of money.

pushing social boundaries is practiced by all sorts of different people.

True enough.

Pushing social boundaries is typically not practiced by engineers.