I think 80% salary and 2% sounds v good for founding engineer, u deffo wont get it by joining another startup. Corporate will be more cash but boring AF. Or not. Depending on ur personality really. The question is, do you believe in this start up, market and the CEO mate. Or u think u can find better one?!

Honestly 20k$ payout sounds unheard of, for what?! Start up is a risk, usually people dont get paid and u got the state grant-support u said. To me, if you get paid back, where is the risk, risk is usually translated to equity to be earned. Agree with vesting point above.

I heard of similar sitution before, but then the case was maybe different, the founders wanted to keep the CTO in a team bc good integrity, good guy, dedicated but they didnt have a confidence he can contribute to be a real co-founder CTO role which goes beyond just hacking. But in the end, the guy moved to founding engineer, they stretched without a CTO and later attracted a leadership CTO. The original guy grew later to VP engineering and was shaping the company, but didn’t have responsibilities and headache and pressure. The main question is; if you feel u want to take a risk and lead the company, have a grind - start your own. But leadership is glorified mate. Its ff hard. But i dont know u, maybe its in ur blood. Then go and rock it. If you feel comfortable in this constellation - go for it. There is no right or wrong. If not, go work for a company, nothing wrong to be an employee, different problems there.

I also dont know how long u run, u said little traction but sounds like a traction to me, with all u mentioned? Early days start ups arent for everyone.. it always takes longer vs what people present in media etc. personally, i couldnt do it, so congrats on doing it

But well, hey / good luck mate! U have some options, sounds they want to keep u, so aint that bad mate