bwah
In this bubble, if you are joining a funded startup you should not take a below market salary, period. If the bubble bursts, your equity won't matter anyway.
If you are taking a salary cut because you are joining a pre-funded or seed stage company, you better be getting near founder level equity.
I think Gruber probably wanted a higher % and more money from it than Dan was willing. Maybe even more than the other hosts?
Gruber and Dan's chemistry on the show was definitely on the decline since the old Bond movie reviews, though.
To me, the overwhelming benefit of getting into YCombinator would have been the interaction among other founders and advisors. It is less about the money and publicity as it is the access to experience and ideas. I do believe, though, that the community on news.ycomb serves this same role in a less direct way.
Good luck to all who are interviewing.